The Iranian government has suspended the operating license of Azki.com, a startup specializing in online insurance sales, following the publication of images showing some of its female employees without the compulsory hijab, as the government continues to tighten its enforcement of dress-code regulations.
The suspension was announced by the Tasnim news agency, which is affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), on July 30. The agency had previously labeled the images of Azki's female employees as a "violation" and "norm-breaking."
Last week, a video circulated on social networks showing Azki's employees in various departments, many of whom were not observing the compulsory hijab.
In response to the backlash, Azki stated that these images were published without the company's knowledge or permission. However, under pressure from hard-line media and Twitter accounts supporting the government and the compulsory hijab, the Central Insurance Agency of the Islamic Republic suspended Azki's license.
Azki is one of several private sector companies in Iran to face government action in recent weeks due to its employees' resistance to the compulsory hijab law.
Digikala, an online platform for selling goods, had its administrative building sealed after supporters of the Islamic republic reacted angrily to the publication of images of employees without the compulsory hijab.
A few days later, the online bookstore Taaghche faced a similar backlash, with state publishing institutions announcing contract cancellations because of images of employees without the compulsory hijab.
The closing of commercial and trade places has been extended beyond large cities and metropolises to include smaller towns. Mohammad Rostami, the law enforcement commander of the northern Iranian county of Talesh, said 24 business units there have been shut as part of "preventive actions to confront social abnormalities."
Anger over the suppression of human rights, and women's rights in particular, has boiled over since last September when 22-year-old Mahsa Amini died while in police custody. She was being held for an alleged violation of the hijab law, which makes it compulsory for women and girls over the age of 9 to cover their heads when out in public.
While the protests appear to have waned slightly in recent months, resistance to the hijab remains strong as it is seen now as a symbol of the state's repression of women and the deadly crackdown on society.
The wave of government intervention against those violating the law has been met with stiff resistance from women.
The campaign against the compulsory hijab has grown so widespread that Abdolhossein Khosropanah, the secretary of the Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution, conceded in June that while women defying the hijab law should technically be arrested, the large numbers of women involved made such mass detentions unfeasible.
In recent weeks, authorities have broadened their crackdown on the issue, shutting down businesses, restaurants, cafes, and in some cases pharmacies due to the failure of owners or managers to enforce Islamic laws and hijab rules.
In the face of the unrest, some religious and government figures have repeatedly advocated a tougher stance by the government against offenders.