Several Iranian men arrested on suspicion of committing acid attacks on women have been released due to insufficient evidence, the interior minister said on Saturday.
The attacks in Isfahan, Iran’s top tourist destination, shocked the public and provoked a major protest there on Wednesday from citizens who demanded better security and action over such crimes.
Reports on social networks have claimed that the victims were doused on the face and body because they were not properly veiled. They were reportedly targeted by assailants on motorcycles.
Under Islamic Shariah law in force in Iran since the 1979 revolution, women must wear loose clothing, known as hijab, that covers the head and neck and which conceals their hair.
However, many women now push the boundaries by wearing a headscarf and thin coat rather than the chador, a traditional black garment that covers the body from head to toe.
Justice officials previously said that four men had been arrested in the Isfahan attacks.
However, Iranian Minister of the Interior Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli, quoted on state television’s Web site, said those in custody had been freed.
He also denounced what he called “a foreign media campaign” to link the attacks to hijab, saying that acid attack victims are usually targeted for reasons of “personal motive or revenge.”
Meanwhile, Iranian Prosecutor General Ebrahim Raissi vowed that the attackers would be caught and dealt with, even if the victims were to grant clemency.
“These crimes are unforgivable. While victims can grant forgiveness, there is no way we will give up rights of the state against those who caused fear in the population,” Raissi said. “They will be severely punished. We will not allow people, under any pretext, to disrupt security.”
Raissi’s comments appeared linked to a prominent 2011 acid attack where the victim later allowed her assailant to pay compensation in exchange for leniency.
The attacks in Isfahan come after a new bill in parliament proposed greater powers for morality police and volunteer militias to ensure compliance with hijab.
However, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Wednesday appeared to caution against harsher penalties.
“We should not be overly focused on one issue, such as bad hijab, to prevent vice,” he said, alluding to the Islamic duty to promote virtue.
Wednesday’s protest came as the attacks dominated the front pages of Iran’s newspapers, and as Iranian Minister of Health Hassan Hashemi visited a victim at a hospital.
The bandaged woman gave a harrowing account of how the attack has disfigured her and left her without sight in her right eye.
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