Iran’s government has announced plans to establish “treatment clinics” for women who defy the country’s mandatory hijab laws, sparking outrage from human rights groups and activists. These clinics would offer psychological and scientific counseling to women who choose not to wear the hijab or who fail to comply with the dress code.
The initiative was introduced by Mehri Talebi Darestani, head of Tehran’s Women and Family Department, which enforces public morality laws, including the hijab. The clinics aim to help women struggling with their “social and Islamic identity,” with a focus on young women, especially teenagers, seen as violating the law.
While the government presents these clinics as voluntary spaces for women to reconnect with societal and Islamic norms, critics argue that it could be a coercive tactic, potentially imprisoning women under the guise of treatment.
Human rights advocates, including lawyer Hossein Raeesi, condemned the move, saying it violates both Islamic principles and Iranian law. Critics like journalist Sima Sabet called the clinics a dangerous extension of state control, accusing the government of labeling women who resist its ideology as mentally unstable.
The announcement follows widespread protests against the hijab law, especially after the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in police custody in 2022, which ignited the “Woman, Life, Freedom” movement. Human rights groups continue to report arrests, forced disappearances, and violence against women for defying the dress code.
In addition to the clinics, reports of women being forcibly medicated and transferred to psychiatric hospitals for resisting the hijab law have caused further concern. Recently, the government also banned several prominent actresses from working for publicly opposing the mandatory dress code.
The state’s increasing crackdown on women’s freedoms has led to heightened tensions, with many warning that these measures will only escalate the abuse of women’s rights.
