A video surfaced from Boroujerd, western Iran, depicting hijab enforcement police violently assaulting a young girl in Fadak Park for wearing a short-sleeved t-shirt.
The footage, obtained by Iran International, shows the police’s harsh enforcement of mandatory hijab. According to an eyewitness, bystanders eventually intervened and rescued the girl. It is unclear how old the child is, but in Iran girls start to wear hijab as young as six or seven years old.
The incident is part of a pattern of aggression associated with hijab enforcement in Iran even against children. Just last year, another young girl was recorded being struck in the face for not wearing a hijab. The video showed her bleeding from the nose, sitting by the roadside in distress.
In September 2022, the death in morality police custody of Mahsa Amini, arrested for not wearing her hijab properly, triggered a nationwide uprising which has since seen tens of thousands of women reject the mandatory hijab.
In October, 16-year-old high school student Armita Geravand fell into a coma and later died due to a head injury after an altercation with hijab enforcers in the Tehran subway. Details of the incident remain obscured, but reports suggest she was pushed by a female agent.
The Iranian regime last month ramped up its enforcement of hijab laws under what it claims is a “national and public demand,” introducing a new initiative called the Noor plan. This has led to an increase in hijab police presence, especially in central Tehran, with more patrols, vans, and motorcycle units in operation.
The United Nations branded Iran’s crackdown on hijab and oppression of women ‘gender apartheid’ and rights groups continue to fight for women’s rights in the country where women are being violently oppressed amid toughening laws.
