Iran's Chief Justice Vows to Prosecute Unveiled Women 'Without Mercy'

Iran's judiciary chief, Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, has threatened to prosecute women who appear in public without a hijab "without mercy". The warning follows a statement from the interior ministry reinforcing the mandatory hijab law. Under Iran's Islamic sharia law, women are obliged to cover their hair and wear long, loose-fitting clothes. The statement urged ordinary citizens to confront unveiled women, emboldening hardliners to attack women with impunity.