Iran bank fires manager for serving woman without Hijab: Report

Tehran: Iranian bank manager who served a woman who was not wearing a head covering has been sacked, local media reported on Sunday, as protests over the mandatory head covering rule shake the Islamic Republic.

Mehr news agency reported that the bank manager in Qom province, near the capital Tehran, “had provided bank services on Thursday to an unveiled woman.” As a result, he was “removed from his position by order of the governor,” Mehr quoted deputy governor Ahmad Hajizadeh as saying.

The agency said video of the unveiled woman “elicited a lot of reaction on social media.” In Iran, most banks are state-controlled and Hajizadeh said it is the responsibility of managers in such institutions to implement the hijab law.

The more than 80 million-people nation has a law requiring women to cover their heads, necks, and hair, which is upheld by the morality police.

Mahsa Amini, 22, was killed on 16 September while being held by morality police for allegedly breaking dress code regulations. This led to widespread protests that the government has labelled “riots.”

Dozens of people, mainly protesters but also members of the security forces, have been killed during the demonstrations, which Iran says are encouraged by its Western “enemies”.

The hijab became mandatory four years after the 1979 revolution that overthrew the US-backed monarchy and established the Islamic Republic. Later, with changing clothing norms, it became commonplace to see women in tight jeans and loose, colourful headscarves.

But in July this year, ultra-conservative President Ebrahim Raisi called for mobilisation of “all state institutions to enforce the headscarf law”. Many women continued to bend the rules, however.

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