Webloggin » Iran Vows To Crackdown On “UnIslamic Dress”

The Iranian government has stepped up police to help guide “violators” of the Islamic dress code in the “right direction”. Women must wear loose clothing to hide their figures and must have their hair covered. For the men, I assume that they have to grow their beards and can not shave, however that was not addressed in the article.

After the 1979 revolution, Sharia law was imposed, but the younger generation in that country has bucked Sharia. For example, women have been wearing capris, a mid-calf pant, and not fully covering their hair.

An Iranian rights group on Saturday criticized a range of abuses including the new crackdown on dress. It said some 488 men and women had been detained in the campaign’s early stages.

Witnesses noted a heavier than usual police presence in some Tehran squares on Monday, including downtown Haft-e Tir square, where officers watched passers-by from a parked police van and car. No one was seen to be stopped.

Ahmadi said that in Vanak, another big square in the capital, about a dozen people had been “guided to police centers to improve the way they were dressed and behavior.”

Newly trained women officers had been sent onto the streets to help with the initiative, he said.

Under sharia, Islamic law, imposed after Iran’s 1979 revolution, women are obliged to cover their hair and wear long, loose clothing to disguise their figures and protect their modesty. Violators can receive lashes, fines or imprisonment.

Many young women, particularly in wealthier urban areas, challenge the limitations by wearing calf-length Capri pants, tight-fitting, thigh-length, brightly colored coats, and their scarves pushed back to expose plenty of hair.

Others:

Purple Wombats,Mission and Justice, two or three.net