The Islamic Republic of Iran is intensifying its systematic surveillance and oppression of women with alarming consistency. A recent UN report reveals that the regime is deploying drones, widespread video surveillance, and facial recognition technology to identify women not wearing the hijab – especially in public places and universities. At Amirkabir University in Tehran, for example, facial recognition software has been installed to automatically detect violations of the headscarf mandate. Drones fly over streets and squares, analyze women's behavior, and transmit the footage to authorities in real time. These measures are not only a technological show of force but a targeted attack on the self-determination of Iranian women – a surveillance state that has reached totalitarian proportions in its efficiency.
The “Naser” App: Informants via Smartphone
A particularly insidious element of this digital machinery of oppression is the smartphone app “Naser.” It allows citizens to report unveiled women – including the location, date, time, and license plate of the vehicle. A woman without a headscarf in a taxi? A passenger without a hijab on the subway? One tap is enough – and the vehicle’s registered owner receives an official SMS warning. If the warning is ignored, the vehicle is confiscated. The app turns every Iranian into a potential informant and criminalizes not only the women themselves but also those who stand in solidarity with them. The once-visible morality police has been replaced by an invisible system of repression – digital, efficient, intimidating. Women who resist lose access to education, jobs – or face crippling fines. And men who support them also come under scrutiny.
A Technological Totalitarianism – and the Silence of the World
Iran is perfecting its oppression – using Chinese technology, facial recognition, AI, and drones. It bears striking resemblance to the social credit system of the People’s Republic of China, but with an even more repressive aim – total control over female behavior in public spaces. Experts suspect that Chinese companies continue to supply the technology Iran uses to expand its digital surveillance apparatus. And the world? Its response has been far too timid. Sanctions against individual officials do little. Human rights organizations and the media must speak out more forcefully. The digital war against women in Iran is real – and it must not disappear into the noise of data. What is happening in Iran today shows the world how technology can become a weapon against freedom.
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