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Iran - Police Close Barber Shops & Hairdressers to Enforce Islamic Code
Eyebrows with tattoos, gelled-up bouffants and tight
overcoats have become targets of the government's plan to enforce moral
standards.
THE GUARDIAN, TEHRAN
August 27, 2007
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An
Iranian policeman speaks with a woman sitting in a police car after she was
arrested because of her ''inappropriate'' clothes during a crackdown to
enforce Islamic dress codes in Tehran on Thursday. |
Authorities in Tehran have closed two dozen barbers and hairdressers within two weeks in the latest phase of a "morals" crackdown aimed at enforcing Islamic dress codes among young Iranians.
The businesses were shut after being identified as purveyors of decadent "Western" culture.
Eleven women's hairstylists were closed because they offered tattoos. Tattooed eyebrows -- in which the hair is shaved and replaced with elaborate patterns -- have become popular with many young Iranian women.
One women's salon was shut when authorities discovered one of its employees was a man. It is against Iran's Islamic law for men to work in women's salons.
A further 13 barbers were closed for giving customers excessively eye-catching haircuts and plucking men's eyebrows.
Many young men in Iran wear their hair in a gelled-up bouffant that would look outlandish even in some of the more permissive Western countries.
The closures were imposed by Amaken-e Omoomi, a police body for regulating businesses such as shops, restaurants and hotels, after it inspected more than 730 hairdressers in Tehran. The police are following a concerted summer campaign to stamp out widespread flouting of Iran's Islamic dress code by younger people.
Since last May, thousands of women have been arrested or warned for wearing headscarves that reveal too much hair. Women have also been detained for wearing overcoats deemed too figure-hugging and for short trousers that reveal too much skin.
Police officers have been deployed in Tehran and other cities to identify transgressors.
The arrested men have been forced to identify their barbers and get fresh haircuts. They have then had to return to police stations for officers to decide whether their hairstyles are acceptable.
Mohammad Ali Najafi, head of Amaken-e Omoomi, said that police officers would accompany trade inspectors in future visits to barbers and hairdressers.
Those breaking the law would be closed immediately, he said.
The morals clampdown has come amid a broader law-and-order offensive that the government says is aimed at increasing "social security."
The campaign has coincided with a crackdown on political dissent that has seen the arrests of academics, students and women's rights activists.
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