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Tue, june 01, 2010 | Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center

Islamic dress code enforcement kicks into high gear: improperly-dressed students denied entry to Tehran University.

The official in charge of security in Tehran University has announced this week that the university started preventing students who do not abide by the Islamic dress code from entering the campus grounds.

Iranian students before the overthrow of Iran's monarchy under Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and its replacement with an Islamic republic under Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini (1979)

In an interview to Mehr news agency, Mostafa Khosravi said that the university campus is “sacred”, and that the security authorities therefore asked the university president and the faculty deans to take action vis-à-vis the students to persuade them to adhere to the Islamic dress code. If the persuasion efforts do not contribute towards dealing with the phenomenon, Khosravi said, the university authorities will take legal action and prevent improperly dressed students from entering the university. He noted that most students do adhere to the Islamic dress code, but some students use improper clothing as a means to express their political struggle. Those students, Khosravi warned, will be directed to the disciplinary committees. He added that such students will be warned three times at the university entrance and subsequently will not be permitted to enter the campus grounds. He stressed that the university is committed to fight anyone who does not adhere to the Islamic dress codes: both female students who do not wear their veils properly, and male students coming to the university in improper clothing (Mehr, May 22)

The statement made by the security official in Tehran University came just one day after the Friday prayer leader in Tehran, Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, criticized the authorities for failing to enforce the Islamic dress code as stipulated by law.

The senior cleric stressed the need for adherence to the dress code in universities, hospitals, and government ministries. He noted that while enforcing the dress code was the authorities’ responsibility, they did not take proper action as required by law. Jannati, who serves as the chairman of the Guardian Council, added that that the students must be required to adhere to the Islamic dress code, and even said that students must be chosen according to Islamic criteria, while students who do not abide by the code should be summoned to the disciplinary committees. He expressed his appreciation to residents who demonstrated in recent weeks for increased enforcement of the Islamic dress code, and to Majles members who mobilized to the fight as well (ISNA, May 21).

Iran 2010 - Basij religious police women enforcing Islamic dress code on the streets of Iran

Mardom Salari, a daily affiliated with the moderate reformist camp, criticized this week the use of internal security forces in the struggle to enforce the Islamic dress code. An editorial published by the daily claims that while Islamic values must be protected and the issue of wearing veils is important, the non-adherence to the dress code must be dealt with using cultural means rather than enforcement. Those who call to use force against the phenomenon ignore the fact that it is a deeply-rooted cultural phenomenon. Any use of force by the authorities will not lead to a solution and may even cause greater damage.

It should be noted that last month, Interior Minister Mostafa Mohammad Najjar announced that the authorities intended to enforce the Islamic dress code this coming summer in accordance with the “headdress and veil program” approved in 2005 by the Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution, which has yet to be implemented in full.