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Authorities in Iran have long been fighting a battle with women who refuse to wear the hijab or headscarf, often arresting and, in some cases, killing them for disobeying the religious edict. Now the regime is trying something new - targeting businesses that deal with women who are not covering their heads. NPR's international affairs correspondent Jackie Northam has this report.
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JACKIE NORTHAM, BYLINE: In many other cities, it wouldn't be unusual to see a large group of young adults enjoying some music at a cafe, but this is Tehran. In a recent video which flooded social media, shows most of the women in the crowd weren't wearing the hijab or headscarf in direct defiance of the Iranian regime.
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UNIDENTIFIED MUSICAL ARTIST: (Singing in non-English language).
NORTHAM: So far, this cafe has been lucky and not been shut down by the Iranian authorities. But that's not the case in other parts of the city, says Parsa (ph), who manages a popular cafe in Tehran. Parsa, like others we spoke to in this story, asks that we don't use his full name out of fear of retribution by the Iranian regime. He says it's becoming more common for morality police to raid cafes.
PARSA: (Through interpreter) They are asking us questions like, why aren't women in your cafe wearing hijab?
NORTHAM: Parsa says increasingly, the morality police show up in unmarked cars. They swarm the cafe and then seal it.
PARSA: (Through interpreter) They say if you don't come out, we will lock you in, and you will be imprisoned until the seal is broken. The best you can do as an employee is maybe to quickly turn the electricity off.
NORTHAM: In another part of Tehran, a cafe owner named Amin (ph) says the regime recently shut down his place. It was the second time this year.
AMIN: (Through interpreter) You set up a business, and then suddenly they come and close your cafe down just because a few female customers came to the cafe without a headscarf or in casual clothes.
NORTHAM: Amin, who also asks that we don't use his full name for fear of repercussions from the regime, has owned his place for a decade. He says cafes have become a symbol of free space for people in Iran, something the government doesn't like or want. But Amin says fines for getting shut down can cost cafe owners upwards of $3,000. Amin says that's a significant financial hit in Iran.
AMIN: (Through interpreter) But honestly, what bothers me more than the money is this feeling you get - a kind of humiliation, a kind of suffocation. They impose this feeling on me and many others like me who are against the compulsory hijab.
NORTHAM: Hadi Ghaemi, executive director of the Center for Human Rights in Iran, based in New York, says for years, the authorities would harass and arrest women who dared to go out in the street without a head covering. He says now they're trying a new tactic - going straight for the businesses.
HADI GHAEMI: We have documented at least 50 establishments in - throughout the country who have been shuttered.
NORTHAM: Ghaemi says the Iranian regime's existence hinges on strict Islamic laws, including women wearing the hijab. Ghaemi says the recent disobedience is part of a broader protest that's been going on since the death of Mahsa Amini, a young Iranian woman who died in police custody about three years ago for defying the headscarf rule. Her death sparked widespread protests that have turned into a grassroots movement.
GHAEMI: What we're seeing in Iran, where a large number of women willing to risk everything to fight this repression, is a very widespread form of civil disobedience, and women really have crossed the threshold. I don't think the regime can put the genie back in the bottle.
NORTHAM: Ghaemi says many Iranians feel the war with Israel this past summer left the regime exposed and weakened. Cafe owner Amin says that's emboldened people to continue to go to cafes to listen to music and shun the hijab.
AMIN: (Through interpreter) Both many cafe owners and almost all the customers are no longer backing down, even though there are reports of threats, closures and even arrests.
NORTHAM: But the Iranian regime still has enormous power and influence and is unlikely to give that up, even if it's on its back foot at the moment.
Jackie Northam, NPR News.
(SOUNDBITE OF GOGO PENGUIN'S "SATURNINE") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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