Iran increasing electronic surveillance of women for headscarf violations: UN

Iran relies on surveillance and public informants to enforce mandatory hijab laws, leading to protests and human rights violations.

Iran increasingly relies on electronic surveillance and the public to inform on women refusing to wear the country’s mandatory headscarf in public, even as hard-liners push for harsher penalties for those protesting the law, a United Nations report released on Friday found.

The findings of the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on the Islamic Republic of Iran come after it determined last year that the country’s theocracy was responsible for the “physical violence” that led to the death of Mahsa Amini. Her death led to nationwide protests against the country’s mandatory hijab laws and the public disobedience against them that continues even today, despite the threat of violent arrest and imprisonment.

“Two and a half years after the protests began in September 2022, women and girls in Iran continue to face systematic discrimination, in law and in practice, that permeates all aspects of their lives, particularly with respect to the enforcement of the mandatory hijab,” the report said.

“The state is increasingly reliant on state-sponsored vigilantism in an apparent effort to enlist businesses and private individuals in hijab compliance, portraying it as a civic responsibility.

Iran’s mission to the U.N. in New York did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the findings of the 20-page report.

In it, U.N. investigators outline how Iran increasingly relies on electronic surveillance. Among the efforts include Iranian officials deploying “aerial drone surveillance” to monitor women in public places. At Tehran’s Amirkabir University, authorities installed facial recognition software at its entrance gate to also find women not wearing the hijab, it said.

Surveillance cameras on Iran’s major roadways also are believed to be involved in searching for uncovered women. U.N. investigators said they obtained the “Nazer” mobile phone app offered by Iranian police, which allows the public to report on uncovered women in vehicles, including ambulances, buses, metro cars and taxis.