Sat Mar 15 06:32:41 UTC 2025: ## Iran Steps Up Surveillance, Crackdown on Hijab Law Protests: UN Report
**GENEVA, March 15, 2025** – A new United Nations report reveals Iran is intensifying its surveillance and enforcement of mandatory headscarf laws, utilizing technology and public informants to crack down on women who defy the rules. The report, released Friday by the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on the Islamic Republic of Iran, follows last year’s determination that the Iranian government was responsible for the death of Mahsa Amini, whose death sparked nationwide protests.
The UN investigators detail Iran’s increasing reliance on electronic surveillance, including aerial drones, facial recognition software at universities, and surveillance cameras on major roadways to identify women not wearing the hijab. Furthermore, a police-created mobile app, “Nazer,” allows citizens to report women violating the law, triggering real-time alerts and threats of vehicle impoundment. This has resulted in dangerous situations, as evidenced by the shooting and paralysis of a woman fleeing a checkpoint after receiving such a warning.
Despite a temporary easing of enforcement after the initial protests, the report notes a resurgence in April 2024 under the “Noor” plan, leading to at least 618 arrests. The UN also highlights a sharp increase in executions in Iran last year – at least 938 – with a suggested link to the broader repression of dissent.
The report underscores the ongoing systematic discrimination against women and girls in Iran, two and a half years after the initial protests began. Iran’s mission to the UN has yet to comment on the findings. The ongoing crackdown, coupled with Iran’s economic crisis and stalled nuclear negotiations with the US, continues to fuel social unrest within the country.
First Piper 