Iran's judiciary has confirmed the arrest of individuals linked to a video circulating on social media that shows a confrontation between a cleric and a woman at a hospital in the central city of Qom, saying the incident was an attempt to sow "division" inside the country.
Ruhollah Muslemkhani, the deputy prosecutor of Qom, said four people had been detained in the case, which he described as “a deliberate act aimed at sowing discord within society.” He added that the case has been transferred to the Intelligence Ministry.
According to the Tasnim news agency, which is associated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, the deputy prosecutor said the arrested individuals were accused of “distributing the video to the London-based Iran International news channel with the intention of creating societal division” in Iran.
Government officials had initially defended the cleric involved in the confrontation.
The episode comes amid heightened sensitivity to public decency and hijab enforcement in Iran, with the video in question showing a woman, without the mandatory hijab, holding her baby, leading to widespread public and online outrage.
The woman demanded the cleric delete the unauthorized video, but instead he refused, insisting she cover up. As the confrontation intensified, the woman began to show signs of having a nervous breakdown while the man ultimately departed with the camera and video.
The woman's condition following the incident remains unknown. There was no further information on the cleric involved in the confrontation.
This case follows a recent pattern of a public outcry over clerical interference and the enforcement of the mandatory hijab, especially during and since the nationwide protests broke out in September 2022 following the death of Mahsa Amini while in police custody for an alleged head scarf violation.
The Iranian government and its officials, including those in President Ebrahim Raisi's administration, often support the so-called promoters of virtue in their efforts to enforce dress codes, with Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi stating no permission is needed to advise women and girls on hijab compliance.
The hijab, or Islamic head scarf, became compulsory for women and girls over the age of 9 in 1981, two years after the Islamic Revolution in Iran. The move triggered protests that were swiftly crushed by the new authorities.
Many women have flouted the rule over the years and pushed the boundaries of what officials say is acceptable clothing.
Since Amini died, thousands of Iranians have taken to the streets to demand more freedoms and women's rights, with the judiciary, backed by lawmakers, responding to the biggest threat to the Islamic government since the 1979 revolution with a brutal crackdown.
Several thousand people have been arrested, including many protesters, as well as journalists, lawyers, activists, digital rights defenders, and others.
At least nine protesters have been executed after what rights groups and several Western governments have called "sham" trials.