Confusion surrounds the announcement of the alleged dismantling of the feared Morale Policewith the conservative media denying that this is the case, activists who view the measure with skepticism and the police force that prefers to remain silent.
(In context: Iran dissolves the morality police after almost three months of protests)
The so-called Moral Police has disappeared from the streets of the country since the protests unleashed by the death of Mahsa Amini after being arrested by that police force for not wearing the Islamic headscarf properly.
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The riots began due to the death of the 22-year-old Kurdish girl, but they have evolved and now Protesters call for the end of the Islamic Republic founded by Ayatollah Ruholá Khomeini in 1979.
During a press conference, a journalist asked the country’s attorney general, Mohamad Yafar Montazeri, about the absence of the Morale Police on the streets and the politician replied that That body “has nothing to do with the judiciary and was suppressed by those who created it”.
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That phrase was interpreted as an announcement of the dismantling of the Morality Police, a body that has been monitoring since 2005 that women comply with the strict dress code imposed by the Islamic Republic.
Iranian media picked up Montazeri’s words and announced the end of that body despite the fact that it depends on the Ministry of the Interior and the Supreme Cultural Council of the Revolution, which have not made any announcements in this regard.
but soon after state television alalam clarified that Montazeri’s statements had been misinterpretedwho, according to his version, only said that the management of this body does not depend on the Judiciary.
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In addition, Montazerí clearly assured that “women’s clothing continues to be important” and that the Judiciary would continue to carry out its work in this regard, that is, applying the laws that penalize non-compliance, such as two months in prison for women. don’t wear the veil.
distrust of activists
For his part, Iranian activists were immediately suspicious of the alleged announcement. “If the Morality Police had really been abolished, it would have been announced as a constructive and formal decision”activist Pooria Asteraky said on Twitter.
The activist Atena Daemí affirmed in turn that “it is a hoax to appease the revolutionaries”, referring to the protests that have shaken Iran since mid-September and in which more than 400 people have died.
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Mohammad Jafar Montazeri’s statement appeared to be an off-the-cuff response to a question at a conference, leaving a lot of room for interpretation, rather than a prepared announcement about this unit, which is run by the Interior Ministry and not by power. judicial.
But, even if this unity is dissolved, its abolition would not mean any change in the Iranian policy of imposing the mandatory headscarf on women -a key ideological pillar for its clerical leaders-, but rather a change in tactics in terms of how to apply it, warn the activists.
It would be “probably too little too late” for the protesters, who are now demanding regime change and not just a relaxation of dress regulations, he told AFP. Rust Boroumandco-founder of the US-based rights group Abdorrahman Boroumand Center.
Unless they remove all legal restrictions on women’s clothing and laws that control the private lives of citizens, this is just a public relations measure.
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“Unless they remove all legal restrictions on women’s clothing and laws that control the private lives of citizens, this is just a public relations measure,” Boroumand said. According to her, “even if there is no morality police, nothing prevents other law enforcement agencies from applying these discriminatory laws”.
To try to clarify the situation, the reformist daily shargh contacted Tehran Police Director of Public Relations, Colonel Sabahi, but did not receive a response on the matter.
“Do not say that you have called us, now is not the time for such conversations, the police will talk about it when they deem it appropriate”, the police officer replied to the journalist from shargh.
Montazeri also referred to a possible change in the regulations on women’s clothing, something that Parliament would be studying and that would be announced in the middle of this month, which other authorities have recently mentioned.
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But the outcome of these alleged changes remains to be seen. Parliament deputy Hosein Yalalí affirmed this Monday in the sacred city of Qom that “within two weeks” a new “chastity” and “veil” plan will be applied, according to the newspaper shargh.
“We will raise the punishment of the bad hijab (as they say in Iran to wear the veil badly),” said Yalalí, who is a cleric, before a group of women who wore the chador, a black garment that is placed on the head and covers everything. the body except the face.
The morality police, known as Gasht-e Ershad (orientation patrols), began to circulate through the streets in 2006, after its creation during the presidency of the ultra-conservative Mahmud Ahmadinejad (2005-2013).
But Iran’s clerical leadership had been enforcing dress regulations, including the mandatory headscarf that women must wear in public, long before. Under the last shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, women could dress however they wanted, and many adopted a style similar to that of Western countries.
Her father and predecessor, Reza Shah, had gone a step further in an edict issued in 1936, which sought to ban all Islamic headscarves and headscarves.
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Since the start of the protest movement, more and more women have taken to the streets without the headscarf, especially in the affluent north of Tehran, the capital. But the movement, also fueled by years of anger over economic problems and political repression, is now also demanding the end of the Islamic Republic led by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
The violent repression of the protests has left at least 448 dead, according to the Norway-based organization Iran Human Rights (IHR).
For Omid Memarian, Iran analyst for Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN) “the alleged suspension” of the morality police “it means nothing, as it had already become irrelevant due to the massive level of civil disobedience by women and the defiance of hijab-related norms”.
The veil
The veil has been mandatory in Iran since 1983, shortly after the revolution led by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in 1979, who declared that women were “naked” without it.
For the Memarian analyst, the obligatory use of the veil is “one of the pillars of the Islamic Republic”. “Abolishing those laws and structures would mean a fundamental change in the identity and existence of the Islamic Republic,” he said.
Abolishing those laws and structures would mean a fundamental change in the identity and existence of the Islamic Republic.
“The End of the Morality Police”titled the newspaper Sazandegi. But the newspaper sharq he was more prudent. “Is it the end of patrols?”he wondered, noting that the police communication service had not confirmed this.
“We must not be fooled by the maneuvers that the Islamic Republic employs in times of desperation, as they could come back with other restrictive policies and measures,” Omid Memarian said.
The hijab “is still mandatory,” said Shadi Sadr, co-founder of the London-based NGO Justice for Iran. Although the protests began over Amini’s death, “Iranians will not rest until the regime disappears,” she said.
WILLIAM MORENO HERNANDEZ
International Writing
On twitter: @williammoher*With information from Efe and AFP
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