Iran has announced the abolition of the morality police after almost three months of protests triggered by the death of Mahsa Aminidetained by this unit for allegedly violating the country’s strict dress code.
“The moral police have nothing to do with the judiciary” and has been suppressed by those who created it, Iranian Attorney General Mohammad Jafar Montazeri said on Saturday, ISNA news agency reported Sunday.
The announcement, seen as a gesture towards protesters, comes a day after authorities announced they were reviewing the 1983 law. on the obligatory veil.
The rule it was adopted four years after the 1979 Islamic Revolutionwho overthrew the Shah’s monarchy.
the protests
Iran is bogged down a wave of protests by the death on September 16 of Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian Kurdish girl who died after being arrested by the morality police for not wearing the veil correctly.
The legislation establishes that both Iranian and foreign women, regardless of their religion, they must cover their hair with a veil and wearing loose clothing in public.
Authorities say Amini’s death was due to health problems, but according to his family, He died after being beaten.
Since then, women have led the protests, shouting anti-government slogans, taking off and burning their headscarves. “Woman, Life, Freedom”is one of the most heard slogans.
The movement continues despite the crackdown by the authorities, which has resulted in hundreds of deaths.
the moral police
The morality police, known as Gasht-e Ershad (driving patrols), was created under ultra-conservative President Mahmud Ahmadinejad. [de 2005 a 2013] for “spreading the culture of decorum and hijab”the female veil.
Its units consist of men in green dress and women in black chadors, a garment that covers the whole body except the face. The first patrols started working in 2006.
The role of this police has changed over the years, but has always generated divisions in the political class.
Under moderate President Hasan Rohani, in power from 2013 to 2021, it was common to see women in skinny jeans and colorful veils.
But his successor the ultra-conservative Ebrahim Raisiin July he called on “all state institutions” to strengthen the application of the law on the veil.
“The enemies of Iran and Islam” wanted to “undermine the cultural and religious values of society by spreading corruption,” he said at the time.
Women who have violated this strict dress code they risked being arrested by the police unit.
Prosecutor Montazeri announced on Saturday that “parliament and judiciary” are examining the question of the compulsory wearing of the veil, without however specifying whether the law will be changed.
The issue of the veil is still very much felt in the Islamic Republic. On the one hand, the conservatives, who defend the 1983 law. On the other, the progressives, who want women to be able to decide freely whether to wear it or not.
Since the beginning of the protest movement, more and more women are doing it they go out into the street without the veilespecially in the wealthy north of Tehran, the capital.
On September 24, Iran’s main reformist party called for the obligatory veil to be lifted.
Iran accuses the United States and its allies, as well as its archenemy Israel, of being behind the protests, what he describes as “riots”.
According to a latest report released by Iranian General Amirali Hajizadeh, of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, more than 300 people have died in demonstrations since 16 September.
Source: AFP and EFE
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Source: Clarin
Mark Jones is a world traveler and journalist for News Rebeat. With a curious mind and a love of adventure, Mark brings a unique perspective to the latest global events and provides in-depth and thought-provoking coverage of the world at large.