The police have arrested several teenage girls in Shiraz, Iran, for not wearing a hijab at a "Skateboarding Day" event. Shiraz police chief Faraj Shojaee said that several girls took off their hijabs at the end of the sporting event, breaking the country's religious beliefs and legal norms. The police have also arrested several of the organizers.
This viral video shows a group of Iranian teenage girls disobeying the Islamic Republic's hijab regulations, and holding a gathering in Shiraz.
The city's governor says security forces have arrested some of the "norm-breaking" teenagers. pic.twitter.com/gHy4KhcQB6— Iran International English (@IranIntl_En) June 24, 2022
Five organizers have been taken into custody for holding an event in which dozens of teenagers freely violated strict Islamic rules, DailyMail reported. Shojai said, "Holding any mixed sports or non-sports gathering without observing the religious and legal norms is prohibited... and the organizers will be dealt with according to the law." A video of the "Go Skateboarding Day" event organized in Shiraz went viral on Iran's social media sites. The video has caused massive outrage among religious fanatics.
The event was "held with the intention of breaking social, religious and national rules and norms," claimed the Governor of Shiraz, Lotfollah Sheybani. A march will occur in Shiraz on July 15 after the Friday prayers for the "supporters of the sanctity of modesty, zeal, and hijab."
A week earlier, a group of 120 people on a nature tour were arrested by Iran's moral police for drinking alcohol, dancing with a partner of the opposite sex, and not wearing a hijab at a party in the woods in the Mazandaran Province.
Wearing the hijab is mandatory for all women and teenage girls in the religiously conservative country of Iran. Islamic Sharia law in Iran since the 1979 revolution mandates women to wear a hijab that covers their head and neck, hiding their hair. Not wearing the hijab in a public place may result in being arrested, fined, or even lashed.
There have been many anti-hijab protests in Iran, most of which were crushed by the government. Protests against the hijab have occurred in Iran since the inception of the Islamic regime. In 2017, inspired by Vida Mowaid, waving the hijab like a flag, a new round of protests started, lasting more than a year and a half. The video of Vida went viral on social media. Thousands of women joined this movement opposing the compulsory wearing of the hijab. The protests were mostly in vain as the government severely punished the women's rights activists who opposed the hijab.
Before 1979, Iran was ruled by Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the last Shah of the imperial dynasty of Iran. He was establishing a modernized regime in Iran and challenged many of the orthodox traditions of Islam, which made religious fundamentalists constantly challenge him. Shah Mohammad Reza started reducing the role of Islam in the country and was trying to turn the people of Iran towards the values of the old civilization of Persia. He made many liberal amends and began promoting the westernization of Iran, which irritated the Muslim population, who called him a puppet of the West. After his fall in the Iranian revolution, the newly established theocratic regime began forcibly enforcing Islamist laws and ideals in the country.
