"We have received reports of widespread arrests and harassment of women and girls, many between the ages of 15 and 17," one of the spokesperson for the High Commissioner, Jeremy Laurence, told reporters in Geneva. The spokesperson said OHCHR had received reports that "Iranian police are using violent repression across the country against women and girls, and against the men who support them, in order to enforce the strict hijab laws." In recent months, Laurence insisted, the police have been "increasingly" enforcing these laws. The spokesperson said there were reports that hundreds of businesses had been forcibly closed for failing to enforce the hijab rules, and that surveillance cameras are being used to identify women drivers who are not wearing the headscarf. In mid-April, the Iranian police announced that they had stepped up their controls over the compulsory wearing of the veil by women in the street, deploring the fact that it was being less and less respected. Since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, women have been obliged to cover their hair in public. However, more and more women have been appearing without the veil, especially since the protest movement sparked by the death in September 2022 of Mahsa Amini – a young woman arrested by the morality police for violating the country's strict dress code. OHCHR explained on Thursday that the head of the Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) announced on 21 April the creation of a new body responsible for enforcing the hijab laws. In addition, Laurence said, the UN High Commissioner was "deeply concerned that a bill – entitled 'support for the family by promoting the culture of chastity and hijab' – which seeks to impose even harsher sanctions is set to be approved by the Guardian Council." The High Commissioner also called on the Iranian authorities to quash the death sentence of rapper Toomaj Salehi, who was arrested for supporting the 2022 protest movement in Iran, and called for his "immediate and unconditional release." Read Also: New US sanctions against Iran's drone industry (Portuguese version)