Tehran, Iran, May 1, 2010
Thursday a senior police official in Tehran announced that women who are found to be suntanned are likely to face imprisonment as they are supposedly going against the ’spirit of Islamic law.’
It has been reported that Brig. Gen. Hossien Sajedinia, the chief of the Tehran police has issued a warning in which it has been stated that a national crackdown would be implemented in the country which would extend to women for taking steps to counter the violation of the Islamic laws.
Brig. Gen. Hossien Sajedinia added that in parts of North Tehran one can come across many suntanned women according to him resemble walking mannequins. The police chief has stressed that such kind of a situation would not be tolerated and so these women would be taken into custody after they are warned initially.
We are not going to tolerate this situation and will first warn those found in this manner and then arrest and imprison them," Sajedinia said.
The warning is the latest move by Iranian authorities that is showing a trend towards "radical" implementation of Islam. Recently, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad warned of an impending major earthquake.
Prior to Ahmadinejad's statement, senior Iranian cleric, Hojatoleslam Kazem Sedighi, claimed that revealing female clothing disturbed young men and also caused earthquakes.
"Many women who do not dress modestly ... lead young men astray, corrupt their chastity and spread adultery in society, which (consequently) increases earthquakes," Hojatoleslam Kazem Sedighi was quoted as saying by Iranian media.
"Many women who do not dress modestly ... lead young men astray, corrupt their chastity and spread adultery in society, which (consequently) increases earthquakes," Hojatoleslam Kazem Sedighi was quoted as saying by Iranian media.
But some analysts said that the new order for women to dress "immodestly" is part of a wider campaign by the government to quash the opposition movement.
According to Iranian law, women should dress according to Islamic values and requires them to wear headscarves and loose-fitting, figure-disguising cloaks. But many Iranian women have been liberally interpreting this rule due to lack of legal clarity and partly due to a growing desire for women to be in fashion.
The warnings of the police chief comes just days after an Iranian cleric Ayatollah Kazim Sadighi had stated that the women who do not dress modestly cause disturbance among young men which eventually lead to natural disasters such as earthquakes.
Btw, Iranian police have also banned shopkeepers from using curvy manneqquins...and female mannequins without hijabs or in positions that expose feminine body curves as they might turn the men on. Seriously.