‘Those who disregard norms … should know that the hands of the law will catch up with them,’ says the commander of the elite force.
Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards force has raided three modeling agencies, accusing the companies and their aspiring models of breaking strict Islamic dress codes for women.
General Mohsen Karimi, a commander in the city of Arak, said staff at the underground agencies had been arrested for “promoting vulgarity”, according to the semi-official Iranian news service Fars.
The report said part of the alleged offences had been the sharing of models’ portfolio pictures on social media.
Iranian authorities have repeatedly raided fashion events and targeted modelling agencies that post photographs online of models wearing Western-style clothes that do not adhere to Iran’s rules on the hijab.
“Those who disregard norms and think they can do whatever they want in cyberspace should know that, sooner or later, the hands of the law will catch up with them,” Mr .Karimi was quoted as saying, without revealing how many people had been arrested.
