Tehran: Iran’s Mehri Talebi Darestani, the head of the Women and Family Department of Tehran Headquarters, announced a “hijab removal treatment clinic” for women who refuse to wear hijabs. The state will be opening the clinic soon.
The hijab law requires women to cover their heads, especially in public. Darestani stated that the clinic will offer "scientific and psychological treatment for hijab removal." Following the announcement, several Iranian women and human rights groups have expressed outrage at the announcement.
The UK-based Iranian journalist, Sima Sabet, who was a target of an Iranian assassination attempt last year, called the move "shameful.".
Sabet said, "The idea of establishing clinics to ‘cure’ unveiled women is chilling, where people are separated from society simply for not conforming to the ruling ideology.”
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Hossein Raeesi, an Iranian human rights lawyer, said that the idea of a clinic to treat women who refuse to wear hijabs is " neither Islamic nor is it aligned with Iranian law”. Raessi further stated that the situation is becoming more alarming, coming from the Women and Family Department of the Tehran Headquarters of the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice. The department falls under the authority of the supreme leader, Ali Khamenei.
The news has quickly spread among “Woman, Life, Freedom” protest groups and female students, stirring fear and defiance.
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An Iranian woman, speaking to The Guardian anonymously, said, “This won’t be a clinic; it’ll be a prison. We’re struggling with daily challenges like power cuts, yet the state’s focus is on a piece of cloth. If there was ever a time to return to the streets, it’s now—before they lock us all up.”
The announcement about the clinic’s opening followed reports by state media of a university student in Tehran, who, after being assaulted by campus security over hijab laws, stripped down to her underwear in protest. She was subsequently sent to a psychiatric hospital. Amnesty International and other rights groups claim there is evidence that protesters and dissidents deemed mentally unstable are subjected to torture, violence, and forced medication within state psychiatric facilities.
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Human rights organizations have also raised concerns over a recent crackdown on women violating Iran’s dress code, reporting a surge in arrests, forced disappearances, and the closure of businesses linked to hijab-related breaches.
Last week, the Center for Human Rights in Iran drew attention to the case of 25-year-old Roshanak Molaei Alishah, who was reportedly arrested after confronting a man harassing her about her hijab. Her current location remains unknown, according to the NGO.