The NCRI Women’s Committee issued a statement today, regarding the plan by Tehran Municipality to employ 400 Veil Watchers to prevent women from entering the metro station without covering their hair and handing them over to the police. The text of the statement follows:
According to a report by the state-run website Etemad Online on August 6, the clerical regime is seeking to expand an atmosphere of terror and fear by deploying 400 security forces of Tehran Municipality under the name of ‘Veil Watchers’ in the Tehran metro with a monthly salary of 120 million rials.
As claimed by regime officials, the duty of these oppressive forces is to issue verbal warnings and prevent unveiled individuals from entering the metro, reporting them to the police in case of resistance.
Paying such high salaries to suppressive forces targeting women comes at a time when, according to the Supreme Labor Council’s decision, the minimum monthly wage for Iranian workers in the current Iranian year of 1402 is less than 50 million rials. Unprecedented inflation and soaring prices have placed immense burdens on workers and laborers. Heart-wrenching scenes of men, women, and children rummaging through garbage bins for their meager sustenance trouble the conscience of any human being, except for the ruling mullahs and the criminal authorities who have abandoned all sense of humanity.
The NCRI Women’s Committee calls on all freedom-loving youth to stand against these oppressive measures targeting noble women and urges defenders of human and women’s rights to condemn these actions under the pretext of combatting improper veiling.
During the 2022 uprising, Iranian women demonstrated with slogans like “With or without hijab, we march towards revolution,” proving that attaining gender equality and minimum women’s rights is contingent upon overthrowing the religious fascism ruling Iran. As Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), has declared, “No to compulsory religion, no to compulsory hijab, and no to compulsory government.”
