Iran charges two actresses for not wearing hijab amid crackdown
As the government's crackdown continues, businesses that provided services to women not donning headscarves deemed appropriate by the government have been shut down
Authorities in Iran have charged two renowned actresses with violating the country's mandatory hijab laws by not wearing headscarves, reports Al Jazeera.
Iranian state media reported on Tuesday that Tehran police had referred Katayoun Riahi and Pantea Bahram to the judiciary for "the crime of removing their hijab in public and publishing its images in the virtual space".
If prosecuted, the well-known actresses could face fines or imprisonment.
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Photos of Bahram, 53, posing without a headscarf at a film screening went viral last week.
Riahi, a 61-year-old veteran actress, was previously arrested in November on suspicion of "collusion against national security and propaganda against the establishment" after she was the first of her peers to post an image of herself online without a headscarf in support of September's nationwide protests.
Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman, died after her arrest by the so-called "morality police" for allegedly not adhering to the country's hijab laws, which were implemented shortly after the 1979 Islamic Revolution. This sparked months of protests.
Several other prominent actresses, including Taraneh Alidoosti, removed their headscarves in solidarity during the protests and were subsequently arrested, eliciting international support.
Since the protests, a growing number of Iranian women have abandoned their mandatory hijabs, with Tehran's streets and other public spaces increasingly filled with women without headscarves.
In recent months, the authorities had largely refrained from cracking down on women in public, and the green and white vehicles of the morality police have been removed from the streets. However, a notable shift has occurred this month.
