Iranian hardliner Ayatollah Ahmad Alamolhoda has called on people to confront and stop violations of Islamic dress code in public.
Ebtekar Iranian daily reports that the Friday Mass Prayer leader of Mashhad, Iran’s second largest city has harshly criticized the “custodians of moral security” in the country and added: “If you do not act, God-seeking and religious folk of Iran will enter the arena and if that happens the costs will be irreparable.”
The hardline cleric goes on to express alarm over the lack of adherence to hijab (Islamic dress code requiring women to cover their hair and body and men to dress modestly).
With the arrival of hot summer days, adherence to hijab becomes more precarious in Iranian cities and the morality police often become more active on the streets warning and detaining hijab violators.
Morteza Tamaddon Tehran governor told Fars News Agency that the situation of “hijab” in the city is “tolerable” and added: “The issue of hijab is best enforced through the spread of hijab and modesty in cultural activities.”
However, head of Iranian security forces, Brigadier General Ahamdi Moghaddam announced this week that police will start confronting violators of hijab in full force starting this month.
The conservative elite have accused Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of neglecting violations of hijab in the cities. Ahmadinejad has often rejected the effectiveness of the policing hijab violations and spoken of a more cultural approach to the issue.
