Autocratic states have long used allegations of mental illness to discredit and imprison their critics.
In Iran, the authorities are increasingly branding women who violate the country's hijab law -- a key pillar of the Islamic system -- as psychologically unstable.
The move has coincided with unprecedented protests against Iran's clerical establishment and growing calls for greater social and political freedoms.
Experts say the Iranian authorities are employing punitive psychiatry -- the misuse of psychiatric diagnoses, treatments, and institutions to punish, control, or repress individuals -- to go after government critics.
"In countries like ours, being mentally ill is taboo, so the authorities use mental health allegations to raise public sympathy to justify their human rights violations," Medis Tavakoli, an Iranian psychotherapist and rights activists based in Europe, told RFE/RL's Radio Farda.
'Labeling Healthy People As Sick'
In July 2023, for the first time, judges diagnosed three prominent actresses sentenced for not wearing the hijab as "mentally ill."
The unprecedented move was condemned by top Iranian psychologists who said the judiciary was abusing its authority.
Now, the authorities have announced the creation of a rehabilitation center in Tehran for women who do not wear the mandatory head scarf.
SEE ALSO: This Is What It's Like To Be Detained By Iran's Dreaded Morality PoliceThe Tehran Headquarters for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice said on November 12 that the center will offer "scientific and psychological treatment" to women who refuse to follow the Islamic dress code. No other details were provided.
In response, Iranian psychologists have raised the alarm about the consequences of "labeling healthy people as sick."
Earlier this month, a young woman who took off her clothes outside a university in Tehran in apparent protest against harassment was committed to psychiatric care -- a move deemed "illegal" by rights activists.
Women were at the forefront of antiestablishment protests in 2022.
The political abuse of psychiatry is well-documented, and was prominently used in the Soviet Union against dissidents. In recent years, the authorities in countries like China, North Korea, and Russia have labeled their domestic critics as mentally ill.
Iran has been increasingly using mental health allegations and other "hateful statements" against women who oppose the hijab since unprecedented protests in 2022, according to Amnesty International.
Months of antiestablishment protests erupted across Iran in September 2022 after the death in custody of a young woman who was arrested for violating the hijab law.
Women were at the forefront of the protests, which snowballed into one of the most sustained demonstrations against Iran's theocracy, with some protesters calling for an end to clerical rule.
"Governments alone cannot get rid of all of their critics," Tavakoli said. "One method is to lob accusations and labels against critics. So, when they get rid of their critics, society thinks that bad actors were weeded out."
'Alternative' Punishment
The authorities' decision to establish a rehabilitation center for violators of the hijab law has caused uproar in Iran.
Mojgan Ilanlou, a documentary filmmaker and women's rights activist based in Tehran, said she felt "pity" for those who come up with "such brilliant ideas."
"They themselves know better than anyone how much these things make people laugh," she told Radio Farda.
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Iran's 'Ambassadors Of Kindness' Enforce Hijab In New Head Scarf Crackdown
In recent years, the authorities have taken several measures to enforce the hijab on women in a society that is increasingly shunning head scarves.
The Hijab and Chastity law went into force last month, mandating fines and sentences of up to 10 years in prison for those who are deemed to be dressed "inappropriately" in public.
Iranian authorities have said the "treatment" center in Tehran can serve as an "alternative" punishment.
But Ilanlou said the opening of the clinic showed that the authorities "are losing the fight" to enforce the hijab.
Iran-based political activist Pouran Nazemi said that "women have been putting up a fight."
"I doubt [the authorities] can continue resisting what society wants," she told Radio Farda.