Iran subjecting women to 'draconian' surveillance on hijab rule: Amnesty

PARIS

Iranian authorities are subjecting women to widespread surveillance to enforce the obligatory headscarf, even inside cars, and then imposing punishments including the confiscation of vehicles, Amnesty International said on March 6.

Amnesty said in a report, based on testimony from over 40 women inside Iran published ahead of the March 8 International Women's Day, that women were being targeted with "widespread surveillance" in public spaces and "mass police checks" targeting women drivers.

It said pictures captured by surveillance cameras or reports from plain clothes agents using police app Nazer identify license plates of vehicles with female drivers or passengers deemed to have violated the rule.

The women then receive text messages ordering them to report to the police and hand over the vehicles as punishment. It said hundreds of thousands of such orders to impound vehicles have been issued.

The cars can then be released in some cases after 15-30 days once "arbitrary" fees are transferred, and written pledges obtained to observe compulsory veiling.

"In a sinister attempt to wear down resistance to compulsory veiling... Iran's authorities are terrorizing women and girls by subjecting them to constant surveillance and policing," said Diana Eltahawy, Amnesty's deputy director for the Middle East and North Africa, denouncing "draconian tactics".

It said authorities have also conducted mass random checks, with police pulling over the women drivers to check if their cars are to be confiscated.

Access to transport, airports and banking services is regularly denied and made conditional upon women wearing a headscarf, Amnesty said.

Those defying the rule face prosecution and in January 2024 a flogging sentence of 74 lashes was implemented against a young woman, Roya Heshmati, for appearing unveiled in public.