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| Nahid Jafari |
While the process of legalizing Iran's "Hijab and Modesty" project, which has been a major issue in the country since last year, has not yet been completed, police commanders in various provinces, including Iranian Azerbaijan, have announced that they have entered a new phase of implementing mandatory hijab rules as of April 13.
In an interview with Voice of America, Nahid Jafari, a professor at Farmingdale State College in New York, stated that the Iranian government is pursuing an aggressive policy under the "Hijab and Modesty" project with the goal of creating fear and division in society.
"Filming women in that way is not just about making a simple film. It's as if you've committed a crime, and they record that crime, and then they will punish you. Think about the huge amount of stress this creates for the women in our society," Jafari said.
She believes that the government wants to instill fear in women by surveilling them in closed spaces like the metro.
"I don't think the issue is the metro itself. The goal is not for everyone to have their hijab in place in the metro. The real goal here is to create fear. It seems to me that if, for example, an official encounters a woman on an open street, the openness of the environment might give the feeling that the woman could escape. But the metro is an enclosed space. When an official approaches a woman in the metro, accusing her of not wearing the hijab, it creates significant pressure and fear. This fear can damage a person’s psychology because the woman is trapped in that environment, and she has no way to escape. This fear is contagious and can spread to others," Jafari explained.
She also pointed out the government's actions of sealing workplaces that allegedly violate the rules, as well as sending SMS warnings to car owners identified with non-hijab-wearing passengers. She said the government’s policies are pitting members of society against each other.
According to Jafari, "The goal here is to set up a situation where, for example, men in society are turned against women. In addition to fear, this also creates division. None of this is good for the psychological well-being of a society and has serious consequences."
Link to the original interview in Turkish on the Azerbaijani section of Voice of America:
Nahid Cəfəri: Tehranın aqressiv hicab siyasətinin hədəfi toplumda qorxu və bölgü yaratmaqdır