Acid Attacks on Women in Iran Raise Concerns Over Veil Vigilantes

A series of acid attacks on women in the Iranian city of Esfahan have raised concerns the victims are being targeted for not adhering to Islamic dress codes.

Four women in the central city have been splashed with acid in recent weeks, police official Hossein Ashtari told the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency. Suspects have been arrested, he said without giving details.

One of the women, identified only as Haniyeh, was warned in an anonymous text message that she’d have acid thrown at her if she appeared in public improperly veiled, according to the Iranian Students’ News Agency.

Women in Iran have been required to cover their hair and wear loose-fitting clothes since the 1979 revolution that ushered in the Islamic Republic. Some, especially in the country’s bigger cities, defy the rules with clothing that authorities consider unacceptable. Men aren’t allowed to wear shorts or vests.

A spokesman for Iran’s judiciary, Gholam Hossein Mohseni-Ejei, rejected reports linking the acid attacks to failure to adhere to dress rules, and said those found guilty would be given harsh punishments.

The assaults come amid a tug-of-war over women’s dress between the government of President Hassan Rouhani and hardline opponents. Soon after being elected last year, Rouhani said that wearing the veil, or the chador cloak, didn’t guarantee chastity. Last month, he raised doubts over the effectiveness of crackdowns on “bad hijab” by so-called “guidance patrols.”
Verbal Warnings

Some of the most strident criticism of Rouhani’s comments has come from the paramilitary group, Ansar-e-Hezbollah, which recently backed down from plans to deploy 4,000 female and male volunteers on the streets of Tehran to issue verbal warnings to women perceived to be flouting dress rules.

The group receives its funding from conservative sources outside the government.

The victims in Esfahan include a 27-year-old woman who ISNA referred to only as Neda. “She had pulled over in her car so that she could take a call from her mother on her mobile phone,” Neda’s father told the news agency in an interview. “Two people on a motorcycle threw acid at Neda and then fled.”

She faces four rounds of surgery and has lost the sight in one eye, he said. “She’s always lived honorably. She wasn’t someone who was against hijab. Neighbors, family and acquaintances can attest to this.”

Another victim -- “Maryam D” -- was attacked while out shopping. “I was raised in a religious household and I’ve never allowed myself to leave the house dressed inappropriately,” she told Iranian media.

The attacks have been condemned by senior clerics.

“These acts are not permitted by any law or by Sharia,” Hojatoleslam Mohamad Taghi Rahbar, the leader of Esfahan’s Friday prayers, told ISNA. “Carrying out such things on any pretext is condemnable.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Golnar Motevalli in Tehran at [email protected]

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Alaa Shahine at [email protected] Mark Williams, Ben Holland