Two girls have been thrown to the ground by female officers of Iran’s ‘morality police’ in a violent beating caught on CCTV. The video, which was shared on social media on Tuesday, shows the women being publicly beaten by the enforcers of the country’s very strict Islamic dress code, the ‘morality police’, known locally as Gasht-e Ershad.
The footage, shared by EnsafNews on X, formerly Twitter, shows the women first being surrounded by a crowd of men in response to accusations that they have flouted the requirements of the country’s strict dress code, which requires the wearing of the hijab and loose-fitting clothes. They are then violently arrested by three female officers of the morality police, themselves in full hijab. The video shows one of the girls being dragged by her hair along the ground to the police car.
This incident follows two years after the death of Jina Mahsa Amini, a young Kurdish woman who died in police custody in the country in 2022 after being arrested for allegedly wearing her hijab improperly. Her death sparked widespread protests and drew international attention to the Iranian regime’s restrictions on women.
Sharia law in Iran imposes strict requirements on women to wear veils and robes, covering their hair and bodies with loose-fitting clothing. Compulsory veiling is enforced by the morality police, and violators face fines, arrest and, as recent events have shown, even physical abuse.
Women have continued to resist, though no resistance is without risk in Iran. Such experiences are shared on social media, giving them greater weight and support. The longer-standing women’s rights movements in Iran continue to fight against the country’s unjust laws and to ensure that gender equality is a major issue in Iran.
