Special to WorldTribune.com

Iranian women who drive in Teheran without their heads covered or even with a poorly fixed veil are subject to having their automobiles impounded by police.

“If a (female) driver in a car is poorly veiled or has taken her veil off, the vehicle will be seized in accordance with the law,” said Gen. Teymour Hosseini, the head of Teheran’s traffic police, according to the official ISNA news agency.

Hosseini added that any woman who had her car confiscated would be required to obtain a court order before getting it back.

Wearing a veil in public has been mandatory for all women in Iran since the Islamic Revolution of 1979 but the rules governing female dress have been loosened a bit in recent years.

“Unfortunately, some streets of the capital have come to resemble fashion salons,” Iran’s judiciary chief Ayatollah Sadegh Larijani said, questioning the “tolerance” that has led to “such a situation.”

Saudi Arabia still maintains its notorious driving ban on women. Activists have launched a campaign against the ban and have encouraged women to post pictures of themselves driving on Twitter under the hashtag #IWillDriveMyself, as well as on Instagram, YouTube and WhatsApp.

Many women have driven since the campaign was launched in 2011, some of them have posted videos of them doing so, and many have been arrested and forced to sign a pledge that they will never drive again.

  Gen. Teymour Hosseini, Iran cracks down on women drivers: ‘Poorly veiled’ drivers to lose cars, veils in public mandatory for women, WorldTribune.com