Iran Focus
London, 17 Feb – A young girl in Iran has been arrested and beaten for wearing ripped jeans.
The girl, aged 14, is the latest victim of the Iranian regime’s campaign of oppression of women and girls.
The young girl (who is not going to be identified for fear of reprisal attacks) was approached by the “morality police” last week while she was celebrating her birthday with some friends in the city of Shiraz. They tried to force her and her friends to a car, and acted violently towards them when they resisted.
She said: “There were two women and two men in a huge van and they pushed us into it with the force of their beatings. Their objection was to the ripped jeans that we were wearing. There were really no other issues concerning my friends and I.”
The girls were released after signing a pledge confirming they would never wear ripped jeans again and would dress according to the strict “modest” interpretation of dress codes.
She was bruised and has sore arms and ribs from the attack. Her mother describes her horror at the news of the attack saying it was the “worst day of her life”.
Officers threatened to pepper spray the girls and said that they should wear “proper” clothes.
Unfortunately this type of situation is Iran is not unusual. The Iran regime does not live in the 21st century and still believes that it should impose rules on how women should dress and behave.
Similar stories about repression like this in Iran include the women who were lashed because they attended a birthday party where men were also present.
The so-called “morality police” patrol streets in Iran looking for people who violate the state’s idea of proper clothing. If they see a woman they believe to be in violation, they will publicly humiliate her, arrest, fine or warn her.
The “morality police” also crack down on the use of social media and there have been reports of women being arrested for photos they take of themselves. One woman was ordered to publicly apologise on state television after she posted a photo of herself on Instagram.
