Iran enforces intensified hijab crackdown

Efforts to tighten restrictions on women in Iran have reignited the protest movement that saw the country's streets flooded with furious Iranians for more than half a year.

Calls to commemorate Mahsa Amini, the Kurdish-Iranian woman who died in police custody last year, have rocketed on social media in the wake of announcements strengthening the country's morality police.

The hashtag which means "the anniversary of Mahsa" has been posted almost 350,000 times since mid-June, according to Sky News analysis of data from Talkwalker, a social listening platform.

Amini's death prompted almost daily demonstrations across the country, with protesters calling for regime change in what has become known as the Women Life Freedom movement or the Mahsa Amini movement.

Amini, 22, died just days before her birthday in September last year after being arrested for reportedly not wearing her hijab (head covering) correctly.

By December, in an apparent concession to the protesters, Iran reduced the role of the country's morality police, who enforce religious rules, such as the compulsory wearing of head coverings.

But earlier this month, patrols monitoring women's clothing resumed publicly. Women not wearing a hijab can be potentially detained.

Amini, 22, died just days before her birthday in September last year after being arrested for reportedly not wearing her hijab (head covering) correctly.

By December, in an apparent concession to the protesters, Iran reduced the role of the country's morality police, who enforce religious rules, such as the compulsory wearing of head coverings.

But earlier this month, patrols monitoring women's clothing resumed publicly. Women not wearing a hijab can be potentially detained.

More than 500 demonstrators have lost their lives and thousands have been arrested, according to the Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA). Several protesters have been executed by the state.