Officers Prevent Iranian Women Without Hijab From Entering Subway
In a bid to deter the droves of women rebelling against mandatory hijab, the regime in turning to new forms of surveillance and public humiliation tactics.
In a bid to deter the droves of women rebelling against mandatory hijab, the regime in turning to new forms of surveillance and public humiliation tactics.
Iran’s state TV published a video in which Tehran subway officers do not allow women without the mandatory hijab to enter.
After the statements by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei about the mandatory hijab on Tuesday, a new round of the regime confrontation with those who do not want to wear hijab has begun.
Social media users have reported that some officers tasked with threatening those without hijab are stationed in metro wagons and the entries to the subway.
Meanwhile, police in Iran announced on Saturday that it is going to use "smart" technology in public places to identify and then punish women who do not wear hijab.
In a statement, police threatened that they would take action to identify those breaching the regime laws by using tools and smart cameras in public places and thoroughfares.
Islamic Republic's Police Chief Ahmad-Reza Radan confirmed in an interview with state TV: “From next Saturday, people who remove their veil will be identified by using smart equipment.”
Warnings will be issued before women are called to court.
Hundreds of women have been seen unveiled in public places since the death of Mahsa Amini in police custody for ‘improper’ wearing of her hijab. Others have been seen burning their veils in defiance, and cutting hair, in a rejection of the regime’s tough Islamic laws.
Although there is no accurate count but over the past four decades hundreds of thousands of these women have been arrested, fined, or jailed by authorities.
In an audio recording of Sahraei’s meeting at Farhangian University, a public teacher training university where he currently serves as rector, Sharaei says this university is more important than the Revolutionary Guard's universities in Iran and everyone who speaks out against the regime will be identified and expelled.
He said "the red line is the existence of the regime," and anyone who crosses it would not have a place in the university. Anyone who took part in the recent protests, even minimally, will be identified in the near future and will be expelled, he said in the leaked audio. “Professors who would not move in the framework set by the regime will not have a place in this university,” he said, adding, “Record this and tell everyone about it.”
"The regime wants to train forces for itself in Farhangian University, and when someone does not accept the system, they do not belong here," he claimed.
The interim minister has not yet been approved in his post, but his appointment seems in line with President Ebrahim Raisi’s policy of further crackdown on dissident students.
Sahrai, who is already under aspersions about his former position as a tenured professor at the Allameh Tabataba'i University, faces numerous controversies about his academic credentials. He is one of those people who were crowned as professors at Iran’s high-ranking universities thanks to links to the regime’s inner circles.
He is closely connected to former parliament speaker Gholam-Ali Haddad-Adel and served as his right-hand man at the Saadi Foundation, a “cultural center” that is tasked with promoting Persian language among non-Persian speakers. Sahraei is the man who was influential in assigning many people as the Islamic Republic’s cultural attachés in several embassies under the guise of Persian teachers.
Although Sahraei’s resume may portray him as a true academic, he is really a regime agent in camouflage of a university professor. He reportedly holds a doctorate in linguistics from Allameh Tabatabai University and is a full professor there, but several graduate students who were forced to work on their theses with him as their advisor or supervisor told Iran International that he never helped them in in their academic endeavors and only showed up at the defense presentation sessions to get the credit.
Sahraei was also the man in charge of implementing policies of Sadreddin Shariati, the controversial head of Allameh Tabatabai University who embarked on strict sex segregation at the university in early 2010s. According to information obtained by Iran International, Sahraei is also mired in numerous cases of plagiarism, including his article about “morphological paradoxes.”
Serving as a loyal regime operator for many years, Sahraei is appointed as the new education minister to carry out harsher crackdown on students who have revolted against the Islamic Republic or voiced support for the popular uprising ignited in September 2022 following the death in custody of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini.
Earlier in the month, the ministry of higher education said institutions under its coverage will no longer offer educational and other services to students who do not abide by hijab rules. “All universities and higher education institutions under the coverage of the ministry of sciences, research and technology will not be obliged to offer educational, welfare and other services to the few students who do not abide by the laws and regulations of the universities in this regard,” the ministry said in a statement April 3.
