Reuters Women without headscarves on the street in Tehran last month
NOS Nieuws•vandaag, 08:00
Eliane Lamper
editor online
Eliane Lamper
editor online
In light clothing and with a scarf loosely on the shoulders: for thousands of Iranian women in larger cities it had become a habit in recent months to go out without a headscarf. Now that the morality police have reappeared on the streets, they have to evade the patrols again.
“They’re almost everywhere again,” says Nadia, a 34-year-old engineer living in Tehran. “I have already encountered them ten times. I was only warned by female officers because I did not wear a headscarf. I just kept walking.” Azadeh, 32, has also been approached several times in the capital. “I resisted and ran.”
Last month, the return of the morality police was announced, which now falls under the regular police. The agents are equipped with a bodycam, their vans are made unrecognizable. The enforcers stand on busy streets and intersections in cities, where they keep a close eye on whether passers-by are sufficiently covered according to the strict dress code.
Everyday resistance
The decision comes ten months after the death of Mahsa Amini, who became the symbol of the protest movement in the country. The young woman died after she was arrested by the moral police for not wearing her headscarf correctly. In December it was announced that the vice squad would be dismantled.
With the decision, the government seemed to want to reach out to the demonstrators, who had been taking to the streets for months. In Iran, many people viewed this with skepticism. Nevertheless, the vice squad was not seen on the streets after that.
Not wearing a headscarf became a form of everyday resistance. Since the large-scale protests, women increasingly dared to walk the streets without a headscarf, go to school or sit in a café, which was previously unthinkable. Other dress codes, such as covering the arms and legs, were also less observed.
EPAIran women walk without headscarves on the street in Tehran, May 2023
The regime is now trying to get a grip on how women dress with new measures. Women without headscarves will be denied health care and education, it was announced this week. They are also no longer allowed to be helped in shops and restaurants. If that happens, the authorities threaten to close the company.
There is also a chance that the authorities will confiscate their passport or driver’s license, and that access to the internet and telephone services will be blocked. The fines that women can receive can now amount to tens of thousands of euros.
Women not only have to avoid the police, but since a few months also the many security cameras that follow and identify people on the street. Yet many do not want to give up. “Of course I’m scared, but I try to avoid crowded places as much as possible,” says Nadia. “The police can be very cruel and beat us up. I’m afraid of getting a prison sentence or a big fine that I can’t afford.” Yet she does not intend to wear her headscarf every day again.
Azadeh, who owns a clothing store in the capital, still encounters many women without a hijab. “My sister, girlfriends and I have been attacked and warned several times. But I still see many women on the street and in the car without a headscarf.” However, Nadia says that the number has decreased somewhat in recent weeks.
‘Berlin Wall’
The reintroduction of the moral police leads to great divisions, also within Iranian politics. Ultra-conservatives have been calling for some time to tackle the ‘lewd’ clothing on the street again. But some MPs and also government loyalists see nothing in this. The reformist former president Khatami warned that the decision would lead to more instability.
The compulsory hijab has been one of the most important political symbols in the country since the revolution. Earlier this year, the Interior Ministry called it “one of the founding principles of the Islamic Republic”. The ministry called on citizens to confront disobedient women, encouraging fanatical supporters to take action.
The enormous dissatisfaction with the political system has been rekindled with the new rules. “We will hit the streets again in September,” predicts Azadeh. It is then a year ago that Amini passed away. “Iranians describe the compulsory headscarf as the Berlin Wall,” says Nadia. “If the headscarf disappears, the regime will also fall.”
In this video from last month, people on the street talked about the return of the morality police:
The moral police are back in Iran and are once again forcing women to wear headscarves
2023-08-06 06:00:01
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