Victory to the protests; Who is the moral police that Iran has withdrawn?

Reports say the government has decided to disband Iran’s morality police. Protests have been ongoing in the country for more than two months following the death of Mahsa Amini, a young woman arrested for violating the country’s dress code. ISNA news agency quoted Attorney General Mohammad Jafar Montesseri as saying the moral police had nothing to do with the judiciary and had withdrawn.

Mahsa Amini was arrested by the country’s Religious Affairs Police in Tehran. This 22-year-old woman of Kurdish origin died in police custody on September 16 this year. As a result of this, widespread protests led by women are taking place across Iran. Authorities describe these protests as “riots”.

Who are the Iranian Moral Police? How are their activities?
Iran’s religious affairs police, or morals police, known as the Gasht-e Ershad or Guidance Patrol, was established when the conservative Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was president. Iran has implemented this system with the aim of inculcating the culture of modesty and headscarfing among the people. Since 2006, units of the moral police have started patrolling Iran.

“If the clothes are too tight, revealing, short sleeves, ripped jeans, they will take you to a detention center until someone comes and gets you clothes that fit you,” said Asal Rad, director of research at the National Iranian American Council.

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The morality police also have the power to arrest and detain unrelated men and women who are found intoxicated or attending parties or gatherings together.

The moral police feel they have a responsibility to uphold what is right and oppose what is wrong. There have been different interpretations and opinions on this. They behave more strictly on religious holidays and during elections.

It wasn’t until the Iran-Iraq war in the 1990s that the country’s morale police officially became a separate unit, says Roxanne Farmanfarmian, who teaches international politics in the Middle East and North Africa at Cambridge University. Since then, many women have been harassed in public because of their clothes. In Iran, the law requiring women to wear headscarves has been in place since 1979. After Mahmoud Ahmadinejad became president of Iran in the mid-2000s, efforts to enforce these laws intensified.

What is the Mahsa Amini case?
On 13 September, Sadachara police arrested Mahsa Amina for allegedly not wearing the mandatory hijab. The 22-year-old woman had traveled from the western province of Kurdistan to the capital Tehran. Amini fell into a coma a few hours after her arrest. Amini died on 16 September. There were also reports that Amini was beaten up by the morality police. But the Iranian government has denied allegations that Amini was beaten.

State TV reported that Amini, taken to the police station, collapsed during a verbal argument with the policewoman. Iranian security forces said in a statement that Amini suffered a heart attack while teaching hijab rules at the detention center. But Amini’s family say he was perfectly healthy before his arrest.

Has Iran’s morality police disappeared?
Iran’s Attorney General Mohammad Jafar Montesseri announced that the Moral Police was disbanded the other day. The Religious Affairs Police has nothing to do with the Judiciary. Therefore, Montessori announced that the system was abolished.

Under former moderate president Hassan Rouhani, women in skinny jeans and baggy headscarves have been seen in the country. The current president, Ibrahim Faizi, has taken a slightly stricter stance. “The enemies of Iran and Islam are working to spread corruption and destroy society’s cultural and religious values,” Raisi said. Meanwhile, many women are seen violating such laws in the country. Women now appear in major cities and towns across the country wearing headscarves and jeans with their hair visible.

Similarly to Iran, Saudi Arabia also had a moral police to enforce women’s dress codes and other rules of conduct. But compared to them, the Iranian police have taken a slightly more relaxed approach. Since 2016, Saudi Arabia has withdrawn its moral police.

oppression and persecution
Over the years, many incidents of moral policing have been reported in Iran. In the capital Tehran alone, more than 35 female protesters have been arrested since December 2017, according to a May 2018 BBC report. Women who participate in anti-hijab protests face up to ten years in prison.

In April 2018, the BBC also reported that a woman in Tehran was beaten by a female morality police officer for not wearing a headscarf. The video of the incident was spread on social media. The video has over 3 million views and over 30,000 comments. The incident led to various protests around the world. The vice president for women’s affairs of Iran, Masoumeh Ebthekar, also came to the scene to condemn the violence. They also said that such activities cannot be justified in any way.