Iran seals off largest online retailer’s HQ

Iran seals off largest online retailer’s HQ

Group photos showed Digikala's women staff not wearing the compulsory headscarf.

Iranian women have been ignoring the Islamic dress codes in protest against the death of Mahsa Amini. (AP pic)
TEHRAN:
Iran’s authorities have sealed the headquarters of the country’s largest online retailer for disregarding headscarf requirements, German news agency dpa quoted local media reports yesterday.

The building of the internet retailer Digikala in the capital of Tehran was sealed, the newspaper Shargh reported yesterday. Earlier, group photos of the staff had emerged in which some women were not wearing the compulsory headscarf.

Online orders should still be possible.

For months, many women have been demonstratively ignoring the Islamic dress codes enforced in Iran.

In response, earlier in the month Iranian authorities announced the return of the morality police, which had disappeared after last year’s mass protests in the big cities to enforce the headscarf requirement.

Police patrols across the country aim to crack down on violators. A draft law also provides for harsher penalties for dress code violations.

The trigger for the massive protests in autumn 2022 against the country’s political and religious leadership was the death of the Iranian Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini, who died in police custody after being arrested for violating the Islamic Republic’s strict dress code.

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