According to local media reports, the office of Turkish Airlines in Iran’s capital Tehran was closed by Iranian authorities due to the refusal of its female employees to adhere to Iran‘s strict hijab law.
Under Book 5, article 638 of the Islamic Penal Code, women in Iran who do not wear a hijab – a head covering worn in public by Muslim women, may be imprisoned from 10 days to two months, and/or required to pay fines from 50,000 up to 500,000 rials adjusted for inflation.
Iranian police officers issued a warning to female employees of Turkish Airlines Tehran office regarding the lack of compliance with the mandatory Islamic headscarf law earlier this week.
The closure of the office however was initiated due to the employees’ refusal to wear hijab, causing “inconvenience” for the police, according to Iranian officials.
Turkish Airlines has not provided an immediate comment on the incident, as stated by Turkish media sources.
Two years ago, a 22-year-old Iranian woman, Mahsa Amini, died while being detained by Iran’s ‘morality police’ for allegedly violating the hijab requirement, triggering widespread demonstrations in Iran, that resulted in mass arrests of thousands of people.
