Hijab monitors and plainclothes agents search passengers’ personal belongings at the City Theatre Metro Station. The eyewitness observation was reported by journalist working for the state-run Jamaran.news on Tuesday, December 26, 2023.
The report states, plainclothes agents present in this station undertake measures, including “illegal filming of people under the pretext of Hijab warning, checking their mobile phones without written warrant and taking pictures from the telephone’s registry, searching the passengers’ backpacks and bags.”
One of the agents was cited as saying these measures “are the instructions of the Interior Ministry and Tehran’s Municipality aids in this plan.”
These measures are beyond the duty of Hijab monitors defined as giving verbal warnings. Obviously, the clerical regime is using the Hijab monitors and their teams to identify their opponents.
The clerical regime’s interior minister had earlier claimed that the widespread presence of Hijab patrols had nothing to do with the Interior Ministry. He claimed that they did not need any licenses to carry out their duties.
However, two daily newspapers published photos of the Interior Minister’s “top secret” directive on May 30, 2023, which emphasized on the arrest and dealing with women who removed their Hijab. Despite the publication of this document, Vahidi said Hijab patrols did not need to have licenses to carry out their duties.
One of the regime officials revealed on December 22, 2023, that Hijab Monitors were not acting spontaneously and on their own will. Abdul-Hossein Khosrow-Panah, secretary of the Supreme Council of Cultural Revolution (SCCR), said the activities of Hijab monitors were organized by the Chastity and Hijab Garrison and the SCCR, and coordinated by the Interior Ministry.
