Iran Opens Mental Health Clinic to "Treat" Women Resisting Hijab Mandate

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Iran has announced the opening of a mental health clinic in Tehran aimed at "treating" women who choose not to wear the hijab, intensifying government efforts to quell resistance following the nationwide "Woman, Life, Freedom" protests that erupted in 2022. The clinic, called the Clinic for Quitting Hijab Removal, is the Islamic Republic's latest strategy to curb female dissent. According to Mehri Talebi Darestani, the clinic director, the facility will provide "scientific and psychological treatment" for young women, teenagers, and others struggling with what she describes as "social and Islamic identity." She further stated that the clinic would aim to promote "dignity, modesty, chastity, and hijab" and that attendance would be "optional."

 

Oversight of the clinic falls under Iran's Headquarters for Enjoining the Good and Forbidding the Evil, an agency tasked with enforcing Islamic standards and whose actions have drawn international condemnation. This department, led by Mohammed Saleh Hashemi Golpayegani and operating under Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's direction, has been sanctioned by the UK and other nations for severe human rights abuses, particularly toward women who do not conform to strict Islamic dress codes. 

 

A recent incident at Tehran's Islamic Azad University underscores the intensifying repression of anti-hijab dissent. A female student reportedly stripped to her underwear in protest against the hijab requirement, only to be labeled mentally ill and committed to a psychiatric facility. This form of protest, which gained momentum after the death of Mahsa Amini in the custody of Iran’s morality police in 2022, continues despite the Iranian government’s efforts to suppress it through measures such as heightened surveillance, increased morality police presence, and barring unveiled women from public spaces like malls and parks. The United Nations has labeled Iran's treatment of women as "gender apartheid."

 

The repercussions of the anti-hijab movement have extended beyond everyday citizens to include celebrities and public figures. Some, including actresses Afsaneh Bayegan, Azadeh Samadi, and Leila Bolukat, were ordered to undergo weekly psychiatric evaluations and to carry mental health certifications. Other punishments included freezing bank accounts and imposing travel restrictions. Last year, four Iranian psychiatric associations publicly condemned the government's practice of labeling women who reject the hijab as mentally ill. In an open letter to Iran’s chief justice, Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, the associations stated: "The diagnosis of mental disorders is within the competence of a psychiatrist, not a judge, just as the diagnosis of other diseases is in the competence of doctors, not judges."

 

Amnesty International has also been critical of Iran's hijab enforcement. In March, Diana Eltahawy, Amnesty's Middle East and North Africa director, condemned the government’s actions, describing them as "a sinister attempt to wear down resistance to compulsory veiling in the wake of the 'Woman, Life, Freedom' uprising." She accused Iranian authorities of "terrorizing women and girls by subjecting them to constant surveillance and policing, disrupting their daily lives and causing them immense mental distress." Eltahawy added that these "draconian tactics" include confiscating vehicles, stopping women drivers, and imposing harsh punishments such as flogging and imprisonment. The opening of Tehran’s Clinic for Quitting Hijab Removal symbolizes the government’s continued determination to enforce strict religious conformity, despite widespread domestic and international opposition.

 

Based on a report by Daily Telegraph 2024-11-15