Iran Ramps Up Efforts To Target Women And Girls By Using Technology
(ANALYSIS) The Iranian regime continues to ramp up efforts to restrict the rights of citizens across the country, and this is to crush dissent. According to a new report of the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Iran, Iranian authorities have committed gross human rights violations, some of which amount to crimes against humanity.
The fact-finding mission was established by the U.N. Human Rights Council in November 2022 with a mandate to “thoroughly and independently investigate alleged human rights violations” related to the protests that began in September of that year.
Sara Hossain, Chair of the fact-finding mission, commented on the findings, stating: “We heard many harrowing accounts of harsh physical and psychological torture and a wide range of serious fair trial and due process violations committed against children, including some as young as seven years old.”
Among those efforts, Iranian authorities continue to target women and girls. While the “Hijab and Chastity” law has not yet officially passed, measures to implement it have already begun. The fact-finding mission found that since April 2024, the state has increased criminal prosecution against women who defy the mandatory hijab through the adoption of the so-called Noor plan.
In April 2024, at the request of the head of the judiciary, the police (FARAJA) launched the plan by way of deploying police officers countrywide to “confront women and girls” promoting “social anomalies by appearing without the hijab.” Furthermore, in support of the plan, Hassan Hassanzadeh, IRGC commander for Tehran, announced the establishment and deployment of the “ambassadors of kindness” to monitor compliance in public spaces, including at markets, parks and on public transport.
The fact-finding mission reported credible information that in 2024, at least 618 women were arrested in the context of the Noor plan.
In addition to the Noor plan, authorities expanded the existing restrictions on women’s and girls’ access to social and economic rights and related services, including health, education, employment, banking and public transport: “The Government has also continued closing private businesses, including cafes, restaurants and commercial offices, for non-compliance with the mandatory hijab rules.”
Iranian women wear full head coverings in compliance with state dress codes. (Photo by Pooyan Tabatabaei)
Iranian authorities further expanded their use of technology and online surveillance as a means of repression of citizens, including women and girls in the country. Among others, the Iranian government intensified cyber surveillance and control.
In February 2024, VPNs were banned, and all users were required to access foreign platforms through state-approved domestic proxies. In November 2023, a new law was adopted that mandated real-time online activity tracking to analyze social behaviors, and a May 2024 law called “Judicial Transformation and Excellence” granted government access to citizens’ private data, including banking and SIM card records.
As reported by the fact-finding mission, “In September 2024, authorities deactivated the SIM cards of journalists, activists, and human rights defenders, restricting access to banking and essential services. To regain access, victims were summoned for interrogation by security agencies, including the Cyber Police (FATA) and IRGC Intelligence.”
In April 2024, authorities started using aerial drone surveillance to monitor hijab compliance in public spaces. The fact-finding mission reported on the use of the Nazer mobile application to target women and girls specifically.
The app enables vetted individuals and the police across Iran to report instances of noncompliance by women and girls in private vehicles. As reported by the fact-finding mission, in September 2024, Nazer was updated to allow for such monitoring of women in ambulances, public transport or taxis: “‘Nazer’ is accessible through the official FARAJA website. Users may add the location, date, time and license plate number of the vehicle in which the alleged mandatory hijab infraction occurred, which then ‘flags’ the vehicle online, alerting the police. It then triggers a text message (in real time) to the registered owner of the vehicle, warning them that they had been found in violation of the mandatory hijab laws, and that their vehicles would be impounded for ignoring these warnings.”
Furthermore, Iran’s ethnic and religious minorities had been specially targeted in the context of the protests, with some of the most egregious violations carried out in minority-populated regions. Women belonging to ethnic and religious minorities experienced distinct harms that were compounded by preexisting discrimination and violence against them — as women and as minorities.
The fact-finding mission cited an example of such targeting: “In one case, a woman belonging to one ethnic and religious minority group was arrested during a protest in September 2022 and detained by intelligence officers. During interrogations, intelligence officers mocked her physical appearance and ridiculed her cultural values, telling her: ‘You [minority group], it will be better for us if you all die; your entire generation should be destroyed. As a woman belonging to [the minority group], how do you even dare to stand against the State?’”
As it is clear from the report of the fact-finding mission, Iranian authorities invest unimaginable resources to suppress the rights of people in Iran, especially women and girls. The use of aerial drones and facial recognition technology and turning ordinary citizens into surveillance machines to police women’s adherence to the hijab rules show that Iranian authorities will not stop at anything.
However, this ever-growing use of technology to repress women and girls in the country also shows that women and girls continue to fight for their freedoms. The international community must stand with them and find ways to support their pursuit of freedom.
This piece was republished from Forbes with permission.
Dr. Ewelina U. Ochab is a human rights advocate, author and co-founder of the Coalition for Genocide Response. She’s authored the book “Never Again: Legal Responses to a Broken Promise in the Middle East” and more than 30 UN reports. She works on the topic of genocide and persecution of ethnic and religious minorities around the world. She is on X @EwelinaUO.