The Cover Up

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Iranian authorities began covering graves showing images of women without the mandatory headscarf (hijab), as the government intensifies its crackdown on how Iranian women can dress, Radio Free Europe reported.

Cemetery officials in the capital said that nearly 100 tombstones with photos of women without a hijab had been “corrected,” as part of its efforts to enforce the so-called hijab law and an updated dress code in the wake of an executive order on July 5.

The new rules bar women from government offices, banks and public transportation if they are violating the new requirements. Iranian netizens have also posted on social media instances of Iran’s infamous Guidance Patrols – or morality police – violently enforcing the rules, including detaining women.

Even so, women’s rights advocates have launched the #no2hijab social media campaign to urge people to boycott companies enforcing tougher restrictions.

On July 12, activists posted videos of themselves publicly removing their scarves during Iran’s National Day of Hijab and Chastity.

After the 1979 Islamic Revolution, the hijab became mandatory for Iranian women in public.

Over the years, many Iranian women have disobeyed the ban.