Two women in Iran have been arrested after being attacked with yoghurt, apparently for not covering their hair in public. The incident took place on Thursday.
A video going viral on social media showed two female customers being approached by a man who engages them in conversation. He then takes what appears to be a tub of yoghurt from a nearby shelf and angrily throws it over their heads.
Watch the video below:
According to the BBC, following the incident, Iran's judiciary said that the two women had subsequently been detained for allegedly violating the country's hijab (headscarf) rules. The officials also added that the man was arrested too for disturbing public order. "Necessary notices" have been issued to the owner of the shop to ensure compliance with the law, the judiciary added.
Notably, Iran's official law dictates that women and girls as young as seven must wear a hijab.
The arrests come as Iran's judiciary chief threatened to prosecute "without mercy" women who appear in public unveiled. As per The Guardian, Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei's warning came on the heels of an interior ministry statement on Thursday that reinforced the government's mandatory hijab law.
"Unveiling is tantamount to enmity with [our] values," Mr Ejei's said. Those "who commit such anomalous acts will be punished" and would be "prosecuted without mercy," he added, without saying what the punishment would entail.
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Separately, on Saturday, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi also reiterated that Iranian women should wear the hijab as a "religious necessity". "Hijab is a legal matter and adherence to it is obligatory," he said.
Meanwhile, in recent months, anger and frustration with the law have driven dissent in Iranian society. Several Iranian women have been ditching their veils since the death of a 22-year-old Kurdish woman in the custody of the "morality police" last September. Mahsa Amini had been detained for allegedly violating the hijab rule.
