Tehran:

The Iranian state is planning to open a treatment clinic for women who flout the mandatory hijab laws that require them to cover their heads in public. Announcing the opening of a “hijab removal treatment clinic”, Mehri Talebi Darestani, the head of the Women and Family Department of the Tehran Headquarters for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice said the establishment will offer “scientific and psychological treatment for hijab removal”.

“The establishment of this center will be for the scientific and psychological treatment of removing the hijab, specifically for the teenage generation, young adults, and women seeking social and Islamic identity and visiting this center is optional,” a report by Iran International quoted Talebi as saying.

Notably, the Women and Family Department of the Tehran Headquarters for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice falls under the direct authority of Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei. The body is reportedly responsible for defining and enforcing strict religious standards in Iran, particularly those related to women’s dress.

Move Sparks Outrage

The announcement came weeks after a university student, who stripped down to her underwear on a Tehran campus in an apparent protest at harsh treatment by dress code enforcers, was detained and sent to a psychiatric hospital for mental health treatment.

The news of the new clinic has spread among the “Woman, Life, Freedom” protest groups and women, sparking fear and outrage.

Speaking with The Guardian on the condition of anonymity, a young woman from Iran said, “It won’t be a clinic, it will be a prison.”

“We are struggling to make ends meet and have power outages, but a piece of cloth is what this state is worried about. If there was a time for all of us to come back to the streets, it’s now or they’ll lock us all up,” she said. 

According to Iranian human rights lawyer, Hossein Raeesi, the idea of a clinic to treat women who did not comply with hijab laws is “neither Islamic nor aligned with Iranian law”. 

Use Of Psychiatric Facilities To Curb Dissent

Iranian authorities have been widely accused of using mental health institutions to curb the dissent against the strict hijab law. The method has been condemned by human rights advocates as psychologically abusive and manipulative.

Speaking to The Guardian, Sima Sabet, a UK-based Iranian journalist who was a target of an Iranian assassination attempt last year, said the move is “shameful”.

“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,” she said.

Since the “Woman, Life, Freedom” movement began, hardliners have increased efforts to enforce strict dress codes for women. Artists, including actresses Afsaneh Bayegan, Azadeh Samadi, and Leila Bolukat, who posted images of themselves without a hijab, reportedly received court-ordered mandates for weekly visits to psychological centers for mental health certificates in response to their conduct.

The “Woman, Life, Freedom” movement began in Iran after the death of young woman Mahsa Amini in police custody over hijab violations in September 2022.