Monday, May 14, 2007

Iran: Fashion police victim attempts suicide. Further crackdown urged.

It appears to be true:

A 21-year-old medical student at the University of Shahrekord in western Iran identified only as Farinaz attempted suicide on Monday by overdosing on aspirin after police had arrested and later released her for breaking new Islamic dress code rules. She is currently in a coma at the hospital of Isfahan. Under a new moralization campaign which kicked off last month, police can arrest women who do not abide by a strict Islamic dress code. Farinaz had reportedly not fully covered her hair with the veil.

While a greater crackdown is being called for by an official of the He man woman haters club.

“The actions of State Security Forces (SSF) against mal-veiled women are necessary but insufficient”, said Farahnaz Qandforoush, the governorate’s advisor on women’s affairs.The SSF should have decisively enforced the dress code over the past decade, Qandforoush told the government-run news agency Fars.“The inaction in previous years has led women and girls to start thinking that they can appear in society in any way they want”, Qandforoush protested.

You have to wonder where this is all headed.