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Iranwire – Iranian authorities shut down a restaurant in the southern city of Mahshahr on January 30 after a woman sang at its opening ceremony, state media reported, amid more than four months of nationwide protests demanding more freedoms and women’s rights.
“Following the publication of a clip on the Internet showing a woman singing illegally in a restaurant in Mahshahr, police investigated the case and sealed the restaurant,” city police commander Farshad Kazemi told the semi-official Fars news agency.
“A judicial case has been filed for the restaurant,” Kazemi added.
The news comes after a pharmacy in the northern city of Amol was shut down after the female owner refused to wear a head scarf.
A video posted on social media shows the owner of the pharmacy being confronted by a cleric who warned her to cover her hair in line with the Islamic Republic’s strict dress code.
The chief justice of Mazandaran Province, Mohammad Sadegh Akbari, said the pharmacy had been closed down “for failing to comply with the hijab law,” and that a legal case was filed against the owner.
Women have been at the forefront of the ongoing protest movement sparked by the September death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in custody after being detained by morality police for “improperly” wearing a hijab.
The wave of public anger represents the biggest threat to Iran’s clerical rulers since the 1979 revolution that brought them to power.
In response, the authorities have unleashed a fierce crackdown on dissent, killing more than 520 people and detaining over 18,000, activists say. The judiciary has handed down stiff sentences, including the death penalty, to protesters.
A growing number of Iranian women, including celebrities, have appeared in public without the mandatory headscarf. Some have been arrested or summoned by the authorities.
In Iran, all women and girls over the age of 9 to conceal their hair with a headscarf while in public and wear loose fitting trousers under their coats.
Iranian female solo singers are allowed to perform for female audiences only.
