Iranian schoolgirls told to 'retain your chastity' by armed morality cops
An Iranian teenager who was told to 'retain her chastity' has bravely shared her account of being stopped by morality police for having the wrong hairstyle, amid a crackdown on women veiling incorrectly. The 15-year-old and her 12-year-old friend from school reported seeing the morality police and hiding while they attempted to tuck their hair under their veils, but were stopped for having hair too close to their faces and wearing make-up.
After the ordeal, described by the 15-year-old as 'humiliating and harrowing', she decided to share a video account of what happened on social media site My Stealthy Freedom, prompting scores of people to support the pair, with some women sharing their own run-ins with the morality police.
In the video, the teenager said: "As two young students, today my friend and me have decided to go shopping for new shoes for school and we also decided to see the new line of school supplies. So we headed for the bazaar.
"As we approached bazaar, we saw two Fati-Commandoes. They were specifically waiting at the entrance of the bazaar. In order not to be noticed by them, we decided to go by the parking.
"In the meantime, we decided to conceal our hair that was sticking out of the headscarf and tried to clear the make-up that we were wearing. Much to our chagrin, they ended up seeing us and they confronted us quite badly. One of them shouted: "Why are you playing hide-and-seek with us? Come here.' They took us [towards the entrance] by force."
The pair apologised, telling the female officers they would pay more attention to how they dressed in future, the teenager explained, adding: "One of those Fati-Commandoes asked her: "Why have you so visibly brought your hair forward towards your face?"
"I intervened by telling them: 'Well, I don't think my friend should be scolded like that. She is only 12 years old and she is a bit young to face such harsh verbal attacks. She is not even in pursuit of looking attractive − she is just a minor".
"However, they seemed to have no intention of giving up. They took us towards a man, who was presumably associated with the Morality Police as well. As I came face-to-face with him, he shouted: 'You, girl! What kind of an appearance is that?'"
The girls were also reportedly threatened with detention, with one of the morality police telling them: "Let's imprison them so that we can make an example of them. They will never dare to come out dressed like this," adding: "My daughter, you should retain your chastity, your purity."
The video comes as the morality police announced additional stations around the country, with extra police reportedly recruited for the roles.
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