Iran increased the surveillance efforts to impose obligatory hijab regulations by using “aerial drones and facial recognition systems”, according to a United Nations report published on Friday. The report, prepared by the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Iran, points to the increasing use of electronic surveillance to monitor and identify women who fail to comply with the dress code.
Public Reporting Through ‘Nazer’ App
The Iranian police, as per the UN report, have launched an app called ‘Nazer,’ through which civilians can report women who don’t have hijab in public places. Users can submit details like the location, date, time, and vehicle license plate number of violators of hijab laws via the app.
After being reported, the vehicle is marked online by the system, which sets off an automatic text message informing the owner that his or her car can be confiscated for multiple offenses.
Surveillance Cameras and Facial Recognition
The UN investigators discovered that cameras on Iran’s major roads are also being utilized to spot unveiled women. Besides that, facial recognition software has been mounted at the entry gate to Tehran’s Amirkabir University to recognize students who are breaking the hijab requirement.
The report further states, “The state is increasingly reliant on state-sponsored vigilantism in an apparent effort to enlist businesses and private individuals in hijab compliance, portraying it as a civic responsibility.”
Mahsa Amini’s Death and the Protests
The report is more than two years since Mahsa Amini was killed in September 2022, triggering massive protests against Iran’s dress code. UN investigators had earlier found that Iran’s theocracy had caused the “physical violence” that killed Amini. Under threats of arrest, jail, and even execution, women in Iran keep defying the compulsory hijab requirement, sparking fresh protests.
“Two and a half years after the protests began in September 2022, women and girls in Iran continue to face systematic discrimination, in law and in practice, that permeates all aspects of their lives, particularly with respect to the enforcement of the mandatory hijab,” according to the report.
Iran’s UN mission in New York has not yet released a reaction to the 20-page report’s findings. The report is seriously concerned about privacy breaches and the growing application of artificial intelligence and mass surveillance to monitor citizens.
The UN revelations have renewed arguments about digital surveillance and human rights in Iran, with activists demanding international intervention to safeguard women’s freedoms.
