Man pours yoghurt on unveiled Iranian women, women arrested
Moment man pours yoghurt over two women who were not wearing hijabs in Iran before the pair were arrested for defying strict rules on head coverings
- Protests have stepped up since the death of Mahsa Amini in custody last year
- President said it is ‘good to use persuasion’ on people who do not wear the hijab
This is the shocking moment a man poured yoghurt over the heads of two Iranian women who dared to enter a shop without covering themselves in veils.
The two women have since been arrested for flouting Iran’s strict dress code following the assault in a shop near the northeastern city of Mashhad.
Footage from the shop in Iran’s second-largest city shows the moment a man confronts a mother and her daughter over their dress.
After talking for a few moments, the man picks up a pot of yoghurt from a shelf and pours it over the women.
The women were subject to arrest warrants after the attack for flouting Iran’s dress code and ‘committing a forbidden act’, according to state media.
After engaging in brief conversation, the man was spotted lifting a pot of yoghurt from the shelf
He then hurled the yoghurt on top of the uncovered heads of the two women, who have since been arrested for breaching Iran’s strict dress code
The BBC reported today that both women and the man had been arrested.
In the video, the man is seen pouring the liquid over the women until the shopkeeper intervenes and pushes him out of the shop.
The attacker was later arrested for disturbing the public order, according to Iran’s judiciary.
The shopkeeper was issued a notice to ensure compliance with the law.
Authorities added that the owner of the dairy shop, who confronted the attacker, had been warned.
Reports on social media showed his shop had been shut, although he was quoted by a local news agency as saying he had been allowed to reopen and was due to ‘give explanations’ to a court.
The shopkeeper intervened and threw the attacker out, only to receive a warning himself for allowing the unveiled women to be in his store
READ MORE: Boys and girls as young as 12 ‘are being raped, flogged and given electric shocks while held for taking part in protests against morality police in Iran’
The viral video prompted Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi to say that the hijab is a ‘legal matter’ today.
He said: ‘If some people say they don’t believe [in the hijab]… it’s good to use persuasion.
‘But the important point is that there is a legal requirement.’
Judiciary chief Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei earlier threatened to prosecute ‘without mercy’ women who appear in public unveiled, Iranian media reported.
An Interior Ministry statement on Thursday said there would be no ‘retreat or tolerance’ on the issue, describing the veil as ‘one of the civilizational foundations of the Iranian nation’ and ‘one of the practical principles of the Islamic Republic.’
The statement urged citizens to confront unveiled women.
Iran International, a Persian language news TV channel based in Washington, reported that the man was a member of the Basij militia.
The volunteer Basij militia was established in 1979 under the orders of revolutionary leader Ayatollah Khomeini and was later incorporated into the influential Revolutionary Guard.
The Revolutionary Guard have increasingly clashed with political protestors in recent months as momentum turns against the hardline Iranian regime.
Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi today said the hijab was a legal matter in response to the video
Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei pictured at the Iranian parliament, 21 August 2005. He earlier threatened to prosecute ‘without mercy’ women who appear in public unveiled
While many women choose to wear or nor to wear the hijab across the Muslim world, it has been a legal requirement to wear the veil in Iran since the Islamic Revolution of 1979.
Women who do not may be imprisoned from ten days up to two months, and in some cases fined.
Penalties have become more disproportionate and sickening as the state and its supporters clash with anti-regime protestors.
Amnesty International this month released a report alleging that children as young as 12 are being ‘raped, flogged and given electric shocks’ for taking part in protests.
Basij agents reportedly forced several boys to stand with their legs apart in a line alongside adult detainees and administered electric shocks to their genital area with stun guns.
Demonstrations have been ongoing in Iran for years, in the past prompted by rigged elections to oust moderate candidates.
But the clashes were brought to a head by the death of Mahsa Amini, who died in police custody in September 2022.
22-year-old Amini was detained by police for improper wearing of a headscarf.
Protestors take part in an anti-Iran demonstration on December 24, 2022 in Istanbul, Turkey, as part of an ongoing political response to the death of Mahsa Amini in police custody
The Iranian protests have been heard worldwide, attracting a diverse community of supporters outraged and upset by the brutal repression of Iran’s people
She fell into a coma after her arrest and died in suspicious circumstances in hospital in Tehran on 16 September 2022.
The Islamic Republic’s officials told media that Amini suffered a heart attack while detained by ‘morality police’, denying reports she had been beaten.
Leaked medical scans and assertions of police brutality led observers to believe she had died at the hands of the police.
Iran International moved from its London headquarters last year after the Iranian government threatened its UK-based journalists.
The channel, with ties to the Saudi royal family, has repeatedly held the Iranian regime to account for human rights abuses.
Iran experiences much censorship with social media channels blocked and media largely controlled by the state.
The state has leveraged its power in the past to shut off internet access almost entirely during protests to calm dissent.
The Revolutionary Guard also owns part of the Iranian press, TV stations and social media outlets.
Source: Read Full Article