Iranian flag waving over Tehran. (Credit: AFP)
Iran's judicial authorities ordered the arrest of two women Saturday, after a viral video appeared to show them being attacked by a man for not wearing hijab.
Video footage widely shared in Iran on social media seems to show a shop where two female customers — who were not wearing the mandatory hijab (headscarf) — in a verbal altercation with a man who then assaulted them.
The footage shows the man pouring a bucket of what appears to be yogurt on the two women's heads before the shopkeeper confronts him.
Authorities issued an arrest warrant against the man "on charges of committing an insulting act and disturbing the peace," the judiciary's website Mizan Online reported.
Arrest warrants were also issued for the two women for "committing a forbidden act" of removing their headscarves.
"Necessary notices have been issued to the owner of the shop where this happened in order to comply with legal and Sharia principles according to the regulations," the website added.
It comes after the death in custody of Kurdish Iranian Mahsa Amini in September sparked months of protests after the 22-year-old's arrest for an alleged breach of the strict dress code for women.
Hundreds of people were killed, including dozens of security personnel, and thousands arrested in connection with what Iranian officials described as "riots" fomented by Israel and the West.
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi Saturday reiterated calls affirming that Iranian women should wear the hijab as a "religious necessity."
"Hijab is a legal matter," he said, "and adherence to it is obligatory."
"Removing hijab amounts to enmity towards values," the head of Iran's judiciary Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei said in late March, "and people who commit such abnormality will be punished."
Video footage widely shared in Iran on social media seems to show a shop where two female customers — who were not wearing the mandatory hijab (headscarf) — in a verbal altercation with a...