Video shows Iran's morality police violently arrest two girls without hijabs

A video of two teenage girls being beaten by female members of Iran’s morality police on a Tehran street for allegedly not wearing hijabs has gone viral, in what activists say is the latest example of state-led violence against women.

The video, which was a CCTV footage released on Tuesday on social media sites and Iranian news outlets, showed two girls on a street in north Tehran being confronted by three "female agents" of the morality police wearing black niqabs who were seen jumping out of a white van and grabbing the girls.

As one of them resists, she is dragged across the street, with some onlookers filming as the girls are taken into a van.

The New Arab could not independently verify the video.

The surveillance footage was released after the mother of one of the girls issued a complaint with the military police over the treatment of her daughter, according to reports.

The girl’s mother told Iranian news site Ensaf News that her 14-year-old daughter had scratches and bruises on her face and neck from the arrest.

Tehran’s Police Force Information Center said that the girls had been warned about their "inappropriate clothing", according to Iranwire.

But the police also acknowledged that the female officers’ conduct was "not within the framework of its standards".

Women who do not wear a headscarf face arrest in Iran for defying the mandatory hijab law, one of many restrictions on women's rights in Iran rooted in a strict Islamic dress code.

The issue has posed a challenge for Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei since the ‘Women, Life, Freedom' uprising spread across the country in November 2022.

The protest movement was sparked by the killing of 22-year-old Kurdish-Iranian Mahsa Amini who was arrested and reportedly beaten by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards for not adhering to the hijab code.

The Shia-majority state has strict dress code laws and customs which curtail women’s rights and have seen hundreds arrested non-compliance. Those often targeted are from ethnic minorities, like the Kurds, activists say.

The violent incident against the teenage girls prompted many to call on new President Masoud Pezeshkian to heed his pledge to end the violent enforcement of the mandatory hijab rule on women and girls.

Described as a reformist, Pezeshkian criticised the morality police and called for an end to its violence against women during his election campaign in July.

Such incidents have been on the rise since the April introduction of the "Noor Plan" unit of the morality police, designed to target women who don’t adhere to the state’s Islamic dress code.

Rights group Amnesty International has documented numerous ordeals of brutal tactics against women and girls by morality police and described the measure as "draconian".

Iranian officials Ahmadreza Radan and Hassan Hassanzadeh, who announced the measures, have been previously sanctioned by several Western nations for human rights violations related to the nationwide protest movement in 2022 and 2009.

Amnesty International said in May that "security forces have intensified their enforcement of compulsory veiling in public spaces through subjecting women and girls to constant surveillance, beatings, sexual violence, electric shocks, arbitrary arrest and detention and other harassment".

Thousands of Iranians took part in the nationwide uprising which saw an aggressive crackdown led by the fierce IRGC. Hundreds of people were arrested and the regime faced global condemnation for executing individuals for their alleged role.

Earlier this week, a 34-year-old Iranian-Kurd was executed for allegedly killing a Revolutionary Guard agent during the 2022 protests. Amnesty has condemned the verdict, saying it was based on a confession obtained under torture.