A report by the United Nations released on Friday revealed that Iran relies more and more on electronic surveillance to keep track of women who refuse to wear the mandatory headscarf while in public. Hard-liners are also pushing for harsher punishments for those who protest the law.
The Independent International Fact-Finding Mission for the Islamic Republic of Iran has released its findings after determining last year that it was the theocracy of the country that was responsible for “physical violence” which led to the death of Mahsa Almini . The death of Mahsa Amini sparked nationwide protests and public disobedience to the mandatory hijab laws in Iran.
The report stated that “two and a half year after the protests started in September 2022 women and girls continue to face systemic discrimination in Iran, both in law and practice, which permeates every aspect of their lives. This is particularly true with regard to the implementation of the hijab.”
“The state has become increasingly dependent on state-sponsored vigilantism, in an effort to convince businesses and individuals to comply with the hijab. It is portrayed as a civic duty.”
The Iranian mission at the U.N. headquarters in New York has not responded to an immediate request for comments on the findings contained in the 20-page document.
U.N. investigators describe how Iran relies increasingly on electronic surveillance. Iranian officials have deployed “aerial surveillance drones” to monitor public women. It was reported that authorities at Amirkabir University in Tehran installed facial recognition software on the entrance gate of the university to find women who were not wearing hijab.
It is also believed that surveillance cameras are used on Iran’s main roads to search for women who have not covered up. U.N. investigators claim to have obtained the “Nazer”, a mobile phone application offered by Iranian Police, that allows “vetted members of the public” and the police report on uncovered woman in vehicles including ambulances and buses.
The report stated that users can add information such as the date, time, location and license plate number to alert the police. The system sends a real-time text message to the registered vehicle owner, informing them of their violation of mandatory hijab laws and the impending impoundment of the vehicle if they ignore the warnings.
These text messages have caused dangerous situations. Police officers in July 2024 shot and paralyzed an activist who had received a text message. She was escaping a checkpoint near Caspian Sea.
Amini’s murder sparked protests for months and a crackdown on security that resulted in the deaths of over 500 people, and led to more than 22,000 being detained. The police lowered the enforcement of the hijab law after the protests. However, they increased it again in April 2024, under the Noor Plan, or “Light” Plan, which was dubbed by the authorities. U.N. investigators cited a local Iranian human rights group as saying that at least 618 women were arrested under the Noor Plan.
The U.N. reported that Iran executed 938 people in 2018, a triple increase from 2021. The report stated that many of the executed were convicted on drug charges. However, it also said they “indicate a connection with the overall suppression of dissent during this period.”
The U.N. reported that “this is consistent with the authorities long-standing use of death penalty and executions as a means of instilling fear and a tool of repression of dissenting voices including protesters and minority groups.”
Iran faces an economic crisis due to U.S. sanction imposed on its rapidly developing nuclear program. The U.S. president Donald Trump called for new talks, but Iran has not responded to the letter he wrote to Ayatollah Ayatollah Khamenei. The economic and social woes of Iran’s theocracy are a source of concern.
