In recent months the Islamic regime authorities in Iran have closed hundreds of small businesses, shops, restaurants, and coffee shops for allegedly failing to enforce the mandatory hijab law on their customers.
In recent weeks, however, they have focused their attention on big businesses, including a major shopping mall. Tehran’s Opal Mall, which houses more than 450 shops, all of which employ approximately 1,500 people, was shut down on April 25 for five days. One shop was closed again after appearing to offer unveiled women 50 percent off to celebrate the April 30 reopening of the mall. The shop owner was later forced to apologize.
Reportedly from mid-March 21 to mid-April, approximately 2,000 businesses were forced to shutter due to alleged hijab violations.
The authorities’ closure of businesses is a ploy to exacerbate the state of Iran’s already exacerbated economy, with soaring inflation, spiralling unemployment, and extreme poverty in recent years.
Meanwhile, a number of Iranian lawyers have challenged the legality of the regime’s actions over the appearances of their customers. Outspoken legal scholar Mohsen Borhani accused the authorities of violating Iranian law and Islamic jurisprudence.
