Disclosure of Citizens’ Identity Information on Mashhad Metro Monitors
The display of images and identity information of citizens on Mashhad metro monitors has provoked widespread reactions.
Over the past two days, the disclosure of citizens’ identity information on Mashhad metro monitors has triggered intense protests and reactions, leading the Mashhad City Council and governorate to describe it as accidental and announce that this incident has been stopped.
Mashhad residents and social media users have responded by stating that displaying identity information in this manner violates citizens’ rights, and described this action as “intimidation” and a security project aimed at frightening the public.
Vahid Tafreshi, secretary of the society section of Khorasan newspaper, posted an image about this matter on his Instagram page and wrote: “This is Shariati station on line one of Mashhad metro. Whenever someone passes in front of the camera, their photo is displayed on the monitor with specific details including age and gender.”
Mousa al-Reza Hajibeglo, spokesperson for the Mashhad City Council, after two days had passed since widespread citizen protests, described this incident as accidental and declared: “This is not intended to become a procedure, because it violates citizens’ rights and we neither have permission for this action nor have such orders been issued to us by the legislator.”
Sakina Sadat Pad, a lawyer and assistant to Ibrahim Raisi, while noting that the aforementioned action violates articles two and 25 of the constitution regarding human dignity and privacy, added: “It is expected from the Governor of Razavi Khorasan that, as the government’s representative, he will take action against those who violate people’s rights and perpetrate unlawful behavior.”
It should be noted that Islamic Republic officials have repeatedly claimed in the past that they are capable of identifying opponents of mandatory hijab through advanced camera footage, and the implementation of the hijab and modesty plan using surveillance cameras began from April 15th on the orders of Commander Radan, but serious doubts have persisted about the implementation of such a plan.
Craig Singleton, a senior member of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies in the United States, regarding the identification of hijab opponents through camera footage, stated: “I believe China has provided this infrastructure to the Islamic Republic of Iran.”
The United States also placed the company “Tiandy” on its sanctions list in December of last year due to selling surveillance cameras to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
It should be recalled that these systems for identifying hijab opponents have even caused some men to be identified as women and receive text messages about “hijab violation.” According to reports published on social media, many men have received “hijab violation” text messages due to having long hair and being present in vehicles.
