Authorities in Tehran have closed two dozen barbers and hairdressers within two weeks in the latest phase of a "morals" crackdown aimed at enforcing Islamic dress codes among young Iranians.
The businesses were shut after being identified as purveyors of decadent "Western" culture.
Eleven women's hairstylists were closed because they offered tattoos. Tattooed eyebrows -- in which the hair is shaved and replaced with elaborate patterns -- have become popular with many young Iranian women.
PHOTO: AFP
One women's salon was shut when authorities discovered one of its employees was a man. It is against Iran's Islamic law for men to work in women's salons.
A further 13 barbers were closed for giving customers excessively eye-catching haircuts and plucking men's eyebrows.
Many young men in Iran wear their hair in a gelled-up bouffant that would look outlandish even in some of the more permissive Western countries.
The closures were imposed by Amaken-e Omoomi, a police body for regulating businesses such as shops, restaurants and hotels, after it inspected more than 730 hairdressers in Tehran. The police are following a concerted summer campaign to stamp out widespread flouting of Iran's Islamic dress code by younger people.
Since last May, thousands of women have been arrested or warned for wearing headscarves that reveal too much hair. Women have also been detained for wearing overcoats deemed too figure-hugging and for short trousers that reveal too much skin.
Police officers have been deployed in Tehran and other cities to identify transgressors.
The arrested men have been forced to identify their barbers and get fresh haircuts. They have then had to return to police stations for officers to decide whether their hairstyles are acceptable.
Mohammad Ali Najafi, head of Amaken-e Omoomi, said that police officers would accompany trade inspectors in future visits to barbers and hairdressers.
Those breaking the law would be closed immediately, he said.
The morals clampdown has come amid a broader law-and-order offensive that the government says is aimed at increasing "social security."
Large numbers of "thugs" and "hooligans" have been arrested in police raids. The campaign has coincided with a crackdown on political dissent that has seen the arrests of academics, students and women's rights activists.
Officials have accused those arrested of fomenting a "soft revolution" against the Islamic regime.
In the past five weeks, more than 30 offenders have been hanged -- some publicly -- for crimes including murder, rape, armed robbery and drug trafficking.
Polish presidential candidates offered different visions of Poland and its relations with Ukraine in a televised debate ahead of next week’s run-off, which remains on a knife-edge. During a head-to-head debate lasting two hours, centrist Warsaw Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski, from Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s governing pro-European coalition, faced the Eurosceptic historian Karol Nawrocki, backed by the right-wing populist Law and Justice party (PiS). The two candidates, who qualified for the second round after coming in the top two places in the first vote on Sunday last week, clashed over Poland’s relations with Ukraine, EU policy and the track records of their
‘A THREAT’: Guyanese President Irfan Ali called on Venezuela to follow international court rulings over the region, whose border Guyana says was ratified back in 1899 Misael Zapara said he would vote in Venezuela’s first elections yesterday for the territory of Essequibo, despite living more than 100km away from the oil-rich Guyana-administered region. Both countries lay claim to Essequibo, which makes up two-thirds of Guyana’s territory and is home to 125,000 of its 800,000 citizens. Guyana has administered the region for decades. The centuries-old dispute has intensified since ExxonMobil discovered massive offshore oil deposits a decade ago, giving Guyana the largest crude oil reserves per capita in the world. Venezuela would elect a governor, eight National Assembly deputies and regional councilors in a newly created constituency for the 160,000
North Korea has detained another official over last week’s failed launch of a warship, which damaged the naval destroyer, state media reported yesterday. Pyongyang announced “a serious accident” at Wednesday last week’s launch ceremony, which crushed sections of the bottom of the new destroyer. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un called the mishap a “criminal act caused by absolute carelessness.” Ri Hyong-son, vice department director of the Munitions Industry Department of the Party Central Committee, was summoned and detained on Sunday, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported. He was “greatly responsible for the occurrence of the serious accident,” it said. Ri is the fourth person
Four people jailed in the landmark Hong Kong national security trial of "47 democrats" accused of conspiracy to commit subversion were freed today after more than four years behind bars, the second group to be released in a month. Among those freed was long-time political and LGBTQ activist Jimmy Sham (岑子杰), who also led one of Hong Kong’s largest pro-democracy groups, the Civil Human Rights Front, which disbanded in 2021. "Let me spend some time with my family," Sham said after arriving at his home in the Kowloon district of Jordan. "I don’t know how to plan ahead because, to me, it feels
RSS