Iranian authorities have arrested 10 people in the south-central city of Shiraz, an official said, after teenage boys and girls were filmed mingling freely at a public gathering where girls were not wearing headscarves.
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A video posted on social media on Thursday showed several teenage girls and boys mingling freely in public, with most of the girls not wearing headscarves. A hijab is mandatory for women in Iran and is considered a red line for the country’s theocratic rulers.
“Ten people have been arrested so far for organizing this event,” the semi-official Mehr news agency quoted Lotfollah Sheybani, governor of Shiraz, as saying on Thursday.
“As soon as we became aware of this issue, with the coordination of the judiciary and law enforcement, the necessary measures were taken to identify the individuals behind this event,” Sheybani said.
Since Iran’s 1979 revolution, all women have been required to cover their hair in public. Women who break the strict dress code risk being harassed and arrested by Iran’s morality police, known as Gasht-e Ershad.
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