Iran’s judiciary has ordered police to “firmly punish” people who violate the country’s hijab law, a news agency reported Tuesday, after nearly four months of deadly protests against the regime.
Demonstrations have swept Iran since the September 16 death in custody of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old ethnic Kurd, after her arrest in Tehran for allegedly failing to adhere to the law.
Since the outbreak of the protests, women have taken to the streets without mandatory headscarves.
On Tuesday, Mehr news agency reported that the prosecutor general had issued a directive in which “police were ordered to firmly punish any hijab violations.”
“Courts must sentence the violators, as well as fine them, to additional penalties such as exile, bans on practicing certain professions and closing workplaces,” it quoted the judiciary as saying.
Iran has executed four people over the protests sparked by Amini’s death in the custody of the morality police. Dozens more have been sentenced to death.
