Iran: Women Forcibly Arrested, Assaulted in New Hijab Crackdown
Iranian authorities have intensified their crackdown on women not adhering to the country's hijab dress code, with video evidence showing multiple arrests and harrowing accounts of violent dragging from the streets.
The campaign, named "Noor," was announced on April 13, the same day Iranian drone strikes against Israel occurred.
Human rights groups report that hijab rules have been enforced brutally since then.
In Tehran, videos of women and girls being forcefully arrested by the Gasht-e-Irshad "morality police" spread on social media, accompanied by reports of beatings and assault.
A mother and daughter were surrounded and arrested in a busy square, resisting which led to their violent removal into a van.
Dina Ghalibaf, a student at Tehran's Shahid Beheshti University, was among the first to share news of a confrontation.
A woman named Ghalibaf posted on her suspended social media account that she was forcibly taken to a police room at Sadeghiyeh metro station and Tasered, insisting she had the right to use the metro as a citizen and taxpayer.
The following day, she was arrested and taken to Evin prison.
The state judiciary's Mizan news agency announced that Ghalibaf would face legal action and denied her allegations of sexual assault.