Status of Iranian morality police unclear after earlier ‘closure’ comment

An Iranian lawmaker has said that the country’s government is “paying attention to the people’s real demands”, state media reported, a day after a top official suggested the morality police whose conduct helped trigger months of protests had been shut down.

The role of the morality police, which enforces veiling laws, came under scrutiny after a detainee, 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, died in its custody in mid-September.

Ms Amini had been held for allegedly violating the Islamic Republic’s strict dress codes. Her death unleashed a wave of unrest that has grown into calls for the downfall of Iran’s clerical rulers.

Iran’s chief prosecutor Mohamed Jafar Montazeri said on Saturday that the morality police “had been closed”, the semi-official news agency ISNA reported.

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In a report carried by ISNA on Sunday, lawmaker Nezamoddin Mousavi signalled a less confrontational approach towards the protests.

“Both the administration and parliament insisted that paying attention to the people’s demand that is mainly economic is the best way for achieving stability and confronting the riots,” he said, following a closed meeting with several senior Iranian officials, including President Ebrahim Raisi.

Mr Mousavi did not address the reported closure of the morality police.

The Associated Press has been unable to confirm the current status of the force, established in 2005 with the task of arresting people who violate the country’s Islamic dress code.

Since September, there has been a reported decline in the number of morality police officers across Iranian cities and an increase in women walking in public without headscarves, contrary to Iranian law.

Mr Montazeri, the chief prosecutor, provided no further details about the future of the mortality police or if its closure was nationwide and permanent. But he added that Iran’s judiciary would “continue to monitor behaviour at the community level”.

In a report by ISNA on Friday, Mr Montazeri was quoted as saying that the government was reviewing the mandatory hijab law.

“We are working fast on the issue of hijab and we are doing our best to come up with a thoughtful solution to deal with this phenomenon that hurts everyone’s heart,” Mr Montazeri said, without offering details.

Saturday’s announcement could signal an attempt to appease the public and find a way to end the protests in which, according to human rights groups, at least 470 people have been killed.

More than 18,000 people have been arrested in the protests and the violent security force crackdown that followed, according to Human Rights Activists in Iran, a group monitoring the demonstrations.

Ali Alfoneh, a senior fellow at the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington, said Mr Montazeri’s statement about closing the morality police could be an attempt to pacify domestic unrest without making real concessions to protesters.

“The secular middle-class loathes the organisation (morality police) for restricting personal freedoms,” Mr Alfoneh said.

On the other hand, he said the “underprivileged and socially conservative class resents how they conveniently keep away from enforcing the hijab legislation” in wealthier areas of Iran’s cities.

When asked about Mr Montazeri’s statement, Iranian foreign minister Hossein Amirabdollahian, did not give a direct answer.

“Be sure that in Iran, within the framework of democracy and freedom, which very clearly exists in Iran, everything is going very well,” Mr Amirabdollahian said, speaking during a visit to Belgrade in Serbia.

Women’s struggle in Iran and Afghanistan: Mahya Ostovar and Mahbooba Faiz

Listen | 54:05

With the courageous shows of defiance against the misogynistic Islamic Republic in Iran and the rights of women and girls continuing to be eroded by the Taliban in Afghanistan, two women discuss the devastating, unjust situation in their countries. Mahya Ostovar, a lecturer at University of Galway left Iran ten years ago and Mahbooba Faiz, arrived in Ireland a few months ago from Afghanistan with her husband and young son. They spoke to Roisin Ingle about the wave of protest against the Islamic Republic in Iran since the death of Mahsa Amini while in custody of the ‘morality police’ and about the harsh Taliban regime in Afghanistan where women and girls are fighting for the right to an education and are now banned from parks, swimming pools and gyms. The women called for more support from the international community and solidarity from men and women everywhere in this feminist struggle for universal human rights.

The antigovernment demonstrations, now in their third month, have shown no sign of stopping despite a violent crackdown.

Protesters continue to say they are fed up after decades of social and political repression, including a strict dress code imposed on women.

Young women continue to play a leading role in the protests, stripping off the mandatory Islamic headscarf to express their rejection of clerical rule.

After the outbreak of the protests, the Iranian government had not appeared willing to heed the protesters’ demands. It had continued to crack down on demonstrators, including sentencing at least seven detained protesters to death. Authorities continue to blame the unrest on hostile foreign powers, without providing evidence.

But in recent days, Iranian state media platforms seemed to be adopting a more conciliatory tone, expressing a desire to engage with the problems of the Iranian people. – AP

(c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2022