REUTERS/Johanna Geron
Iranian authorities on Sunday announced a new campaign to force women to wear traditional Muslim headscarves, bringing morality police back to the streets after ten months.
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The virtue police had effectively disappeared from the streets since the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in police custody last September sparked mass protests across the country.
The protests were brutally suppressed by the authorities and died down at the beginning of the year. During the protests, more than 500 demonstrators were killed and almost 20,000 people were detained.
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But many women, especially in Tehran and other major cities, still refuse to follow the official dress code imposed by the theocratic regime, which has been in power for four decades.
When the protests began, the Virtue Police were rarely seen on the streets, and in December there were even reports, which were later denied, that they had been disbanded.
The authorities have emphasized that the rules have not changed throughout the protests. The regime considers wearing the hijab one of the pillars of the order established by the Islamic revolution.
Police spokesman General Saeed Montazerolmahdi announced on Sunday that the morality police will resume issuing warnings on the streets to women who do not wear headscarves in public, and arrest those who refuse to comply.
Marked morality police minibuses have already started patrolling the streets of Tehran.
On Saturday evening, the police arrested a little-known actor who had commented on social media about a video of a woman being arrested by the morality police. “Believe me, when I see such a scene, I can commit murder,” the actor had declared.
“Hamshahri”, a newspaper controlled by the Tehran municipality, stated on its website that the actor was detained for calling for weapons to be used against the police.
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A number of Iranian celebrities, including prominent directors and actors, joined the protests last fall, in which women played a prominent role. Several Iranian actresses were detained for appearing in public without a hijab or otherwise expressing support for the demonstrators.
Recently, actress Azadeh Samadi was banned by the court from using social networking sites and instructed to seek the help of a psychologist to prevent “antisocial personality disorder”, because two months ago she appeared at a funeral not wearing a hijab, but wearing a hat.
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2023-07-17 04:37:33
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