Bank Mellat circular for female employees: Wearing loud shoes and makeup is prohibited

In the continuing escalation of the crackdown on what the Iranian government calls "bad hijab," Bank Mellat issued a circular banning the wearing of high heels and thin socks, as well as the use of female secretaries for managers.

According to this circular, which the Iran Watch news website published a photo of on Tuesday, July 4, it has been declared a ban on women wearing high-heeled shoes, loud shoes, thin socks, and unconventional jewelry, as well as female secretaries for bank managers.

This circular was issued following an order from the bank's CEO to implement letters from the "Enjoining Right and Forbidding Wrong" Headquarters and the Ministry of Economy and Finance. Based on it, even women wearing a headscarf must wear a veil that, in addition to covering their hair, covers their neck and shoulders, at least up to the chest.

In recent days, there has been much news from all corners of Iran about the intensification of the crackdown on "improper hijab" and the forcing of women to observe "Islamic hijab".

On Tuesday, the mayor of Mashhad issued an order regarding a letter from the prosecutor's office to prevent women "not wearing a hijab" from entering the subway, stating that despite the "lack of legal support" for this request, the grounds for implementing this "judicial order" should be provided.

In response to the order being called "illegal" on social media, the Young Journalists Club, quoting Mohammad Jafar Montazeri, the country's Attorney General, wrote: "The letter from the deputy prosecutor of Mashhad is within the framework of the law, but necessary measures should have been taken in this regard."

Mr. Jafari, however, did not explain what the legal basis was for prohibiting the provision of services to women who do not wear the hijab and what he meant by "necessary measures."

According to Article 570 of the Islamic Penal Code, “Any official or agent affiliated with government institutions and apparatus who, contrary to the law, deprives individuals of their personal freedom or deprives them of the rights stipulated in the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran, will be sentenced to imprisonment from two months to three years, in addition to dismissal from service and deprivation of one to five years from government jobs.”

Source: Radio Farda