Tehran judiciary chief Nasser Atabati announces judicial action against unveiled women

Nasser Atabati, head of the Tehran provincial judiciary, announced on Tuesday, 13 October 2026, that the Islamic Republic's judiciary, together with law-enforcement officers and other bodies, will act against any behaviour that, in his words, promotes "nudity", "licentiousness" and "the normalisation of unhealthy relationships". The remarks are the latest sign of the government's intensifying pressure on women who do not accept compulsory hijab.

Atabati claimed that in some cases the situation had gone beyond "unveiling" and that, in his words, this made "proportionate measures" more necessary. He also claimed that many of those who had earlier criticised the compulsory-hijab policy now oppose these scenes. The head of the Tehran judiciary gave no details of the measures in question, the number of cases, or the bodies responsible for carrying them out.

A new wave of pressure on women in Iranian cities

The warning comes a few days after Asadollah Jafari, head of the Isfahan judiciary, announced the start of identifying unveiled women, with that province's judiciary speaking of identifying those it calls "body-baring and dissolute". Before that, the Tehran Revolution Club was closed on the pretext of compulsory hijab and reopened a day later.

The coincidence of these threats with war, inflation of nearly 90 percent and a wave of executions shows that the Islamic Republic has once again turned control of women's dress and private lives into a tool for displaying power on the street; a policy that, after the "Woman, Life, Freedom" uprising and the uprising of December 2025–January 2026, has met with widespread disobedience by women.

Without giving any details, the head of the Tehran judiciary spoke of judicial action against women who do not accept compulsory hijab.