TEHRAN: At least two women were arrested after they were attacked by a man in a town near the northeastern city of Mashhad for what the authorities said “not covering their hair in public.”
According to Reuters, judicial authorities also issued arrest warrants for the man who poured yogurt over the heads of the mother and her daughter. Both the women were also arrested for flouting Iran’s strict female dress rules, state media reported.
In the video that went viral, the mother and daughter were approached by the man, who begins talking to them before he took a tub of yogurt from a shop’s shelf and threw it over their heads.
Iran’s judiciary said the two women had been detained for showing their hair, which was illegal in Iran.
The judiciary said that the man had also been arrested for disturbing the public order.
The arrests follow months of protests in Iran with growing demand for an end to the compulsory wearing of the hijab
The footage showed the women in the dairy shop, waiting to be served by a member of staff when they were approached by the man who confronted them.
After he spoke, he frequently attacks them with yogurt. The attacker was then pushed out of the shop by the salesperson.
Arrest warrants were issued before the three were arrested, the judiciary’s Mizan news agency reported.
It added that “necessary notices” have been issued to the owner of the shop to ensure compliance with the law.
Meanwhile, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said that the hijab was a mandatory law and if some people say they did not believe (in the hijab)… it was good to use persuasion … But the important point was that there was a legal requirement … and the hijab was a legal matter.
Judiciary chief Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei earlier warned to prosecute “without mercy” women who appear in public without wearing hijab, Iranian media reported.
