UN: Iran expands electronic monitoring of women over hijab violations

Iran more and more depends on electronic monitoring and civilians to report on women who refuse to wear the nation's compulsory headscarf in public, despite hard-liners who are lobbying for more severe punishment against protesters of the law, a United Nations report issued on Friday discovered.

Islamic Republic of Iran 

The Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on the Islamic Republic of Iran released their findings after determining last year that the theocracy of the country was to blame for the "physical violence" responsible for the death of Mahsa. "Two and a half years since the start of the September 2022 protests, Iranian women and girls continue to endure systematic discrimination, in law and in practice, that pervades every sphere of their lives, notably regarding enforcement of the obligatory hijab," the report added

Independent International Fact-Finding Mission

The results of the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on the Islamic Republic of Iran follow after it last year concluded that the theocracy of the nation was behind the "physical violence" that caused the death of Mahsa Amini. Her death resulted in nationwide protests over the country's hijab legislation and the public defiance of such legislation that has persisted even today, in the face of potential violent arrest and incarceration.

General repression of protest in this time

In it, U.N. researchers detail the way Iran increasingly relies on surveillance electronically. At Tehran's Amirkabir University, authorities mounted facial recognition software at its entrance gate to also locate women not wearing the hijab, it added. Simultaneously, Iran carried out at least 938 last year, triple the number in 2021, the U.N. reported. While some were convicted on drug-related charges, the report stated that the executions "point to an intersection with the general repression of protest in this time.

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei

As Iran tightens its enforcement of the hijab, it is also experiencing a financial crisis over American sanctions because of its very fast-progressing nuclear program. Whereas U.S. President Donald Trump has demanded fresh talks, Iran has still not replied to a letter he wrote to its 85-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Social instability, along with economic troubles, is still a worry for Iran's theocracy.