Iran: Cars of 'poorly veiled women' to be confiscated by police

Iranian women are being warned against driving with loosely held veils or no head covering. Women found driving without the appropriate head covering will have their cars seized, according to a police official on 2 September.

According to the head of Tehran's traffic police, General Teymour Hosseini, once a woman's car is seized, court permission will be required to retain the car. "If a [female] driver in a car is poorly veiled or has taken her veil off, the vehicle will be seized in accordance with the law," said Hosseini, reported AFP News.

Iran's judiciary chief Ayatollah Sadegh Larijani had touched on the same point a few days earlier when he said: "Unfortunately, some streets of the capital have come to resemble fashion salons."

Earlier in 2014, a Facebook page was launched against the female head covering hijab by Iranian women calling out for their rights. Several women were featured on the Facebook page without veils.

"One of the first acts of this regime was to impose compulsory veiling and suppress a huge protest on 8 March 1979 to mark International Women's Day," said political activist Maryam Namazie.

"The veil - like many other medieval rules - has been imposed by sheer force, including with morality police harassing women and girls, fines and even imprisonment."

In similar news from Saudi Arabia, a female student was allegedly pushed off a bus by a male supervisor for not having covered her face behind a veil.