Iran: Women fined £169 for wearing 'bad hijabs'

Two Iranian women have been fined for wearing 'bad hijabs' in public, according to a judicial official on 16 September. The women were each charged with a £169 fine for violating the mandatory Islamic dress code in Iran.

Despite moderate President Hassan Rouhani's social reforms since coming to power, presence of women in the public remains controlled by the conservative regime. "In recent days several cases have been filed in the court for bad hijabs and, in two of them, the accused were sentenced to pay 9 million rials [£169] in cash," said an official, reported France24 News.

Earlier Iranian women were warned against driving with loosely held veils or no head covering. "If a [female] driver in a car is poorly veiled or has taken her veil off, the vehicle will be seized in accordance with the law," said Tehran's traffic police General, Teymour Hosseini.

Hosseini further said that once a woman's car is seized, court permission will be required to retain the car.

Earlier in 2014, a Facebook page was launched against the female head covering by Iranian women calling out for their rights. Several women were featured on the Facebook page without veils.

"One of the first acts of this regime was to impose compulsory veiling and suppress a huge protest on 8 March 1979 to mark International Women's Day," said political activist Maryam Namazie. "The veil - like many other medieval rules - has been imposed by sheer force, including with morality police harassing women and girls, fines and even imprisonment."