Iranian police plan to use smart cameras to identify ‘violators of hijab law’

Police in Iran plan to use smart technology in public places to identify and then penalise women who violate the country's strict Islamic dress code, the force said on Saturday.

A statement said police would "take action to identify norm-breaking people by using tools and smart cameras in public places and thoroughfares".

Police will then send "the proof and warning messages to the violators of the hijab law" to "inform them about the legal consequences of repeating this crime".

The number of women in Iran defying the compulsory dress code has increased since a wave of protests after the death in custody of Kurdish-Iranian Mahsa Amini, 22, for allegedly flouting it.

"From next Saturday, people who remove their veil will be identified by using smart equipment," Iran's police chief, Ahmad-Reza Radan, said in an interview with state television.

"People who remove their hijab in public places will be warned first and presented to the courts as a next step," Radan said.

He said car owners will also receive a warning text if any of their passengers violate the dress code, and their vehicles will be seized if the offence is repeated.

Amini died on 16 September, three days after her arrest by the "morality police".

A wave of civil protests swept across the Islamic republic after her death.

In a separate statement on Saturday, police said they would not tolerate "any individual or collective behaviour and actions that are contrary to the law".

Last week, a viral video on social media showed a man throwing yoghurt at two women for not wearing hijab. The two women were later arrested for not wearing the headscarf.

In late March, the head of the judiciary, Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Eje'i, said "removing hijab amounts to enmity towards values and people who commit such abnormality will be punished".

The requirement for women to wear the headscarf in public was enshrined in law shortly after the Islamic revolution of 1979.