Iran to Use Facial Recognition Technology to Identify and Punish Unveiled Women: New Restrictions

The Iranian government plans to utilize facial recognition technology on public transport to identify women who do not comply with the new strict hijab laws, according to The Guardian.

The media outlet notes that the regime continues its punitive pressures against women's clothing. Mohammad Saleh Hashemi Golpayegani, secretary of the Iranian headquarters for the promotion of virtue and prevention of vice, recently stated in an interview that the government intends to employ technology to monitor women in public places following a new decree on women's clothing limitations signed by the country's hardline President Ebrahim Raisi.

The decree was signed on August 15 and has sparked nationwide protests by women, who are sharing videos on social media showing themselves unveiled in streets, buses, and trains. In recent weeks, Iranian authorities have responded with a series of arrests, detentions, and coercions to testify on television.