The clergy have long frowned on dog ownership, viewing the animals as unclean. Dog ownership has never been declared illegal, but owners have effectively been told to keep their animals confined to their homes.
But last week, Tehran Police Chief General Hossain Sajedi-nia went a step further and announced that any cars found carrying dogs would be seized. That is, both the animal and the vehicle will be taken into custody by the forces of law and order. Sajedi-nia did not cite the law under which he had the authority to do so.
At a news conference, Sajedi-nia, who was appointed chief of the Tehran police a little over a year ago, boasted that the annual crackdown on dress code violations had had remarkable success. Sajedi-nia is demonstrating more enthusiasm for taking on morality offenses than most of his predecessors.
Sajedi-nia said the annual crackdown was a stunning success after only a single week. He said complaints of women being harassed on the streets were already down by 50 percent. The general, of course, was referring to women being harassed by sex fiends because they were dressed provocatively; he did not consider that police grabbing women to fine them for dress code violations was harassment.
One opposition website has published what it says is a list of common fines for women. They included:
• Wearing nail polish—$5 per finger.
• Having a skin tan—$23. (It wasn’t explained how the police would determine if a woman was tanning her skin or just naturally olive-skinned; that would appear to require an inspection of private areas.)
• Having bleached hair—$15 to $45. (The range was not explained.)
• Wearing sunglasses pushed up atop the headscarf—$15.
• Wearing a top in bright colors—$30.
Sajedi-nia gave no statistics on how many women have been arrested and fined since the crackdown began. Tehran residents say it is quite common to see women being hustled into police vans and driven off. But despite government boasts of transparency, no actual numbers are being given out.
That applies to men as well. The police earlier said they would be enforcing the laws against men with impermissible haircuts and tight jeans—and they said they would now be arresting men wearing necklaces. But no stats on such arrests are available.
Jeans are a special problem for some. Last month, Ali-Akbar Raefipur, an analyst of some sort, appeared on state television to inform the public that the word “jeans” is derived from the Persian word “jinn,” which are spirits described in the Qoran and appear somewhat analogous to Irish leprechauns.
Continuing his academic analysis, Raefipur compared women’s high heels to the hooves of satanic demons. And he informed the public in the broadcast that some signs and symbols printed on t-shirts are actually spells and satanic slogans.
(The English word “jeans” comes from the French “Jannes fustian,” meaning fustian, or twilled cotton cloth, from the city of Jannes, old French for Genoa, Italy.)
Police Chief Sajedi-nia announced the upcoming crackdown back in April, saying, “The public expects us to act firmly if we see any social misbehavior by women or men who defy Islamic values. In some areas of north Tehran, we can see many suntanned women and girls who look like walking mannequins. We are not going to tolerate this and will first warn those found dressed in this manner and then arrest and imprison them.”