The abolition announced by the Iranian government of its morality police leaves members of the diaspora in Quebec doubtful, convinced that it is a ruse by Tehran to calm the ardor of the protesters at the approach of three days of mobilization.
This is a “cosmetic maneuver” by the regime of the ultraconservative Ebrahim Raïssi in order to calm things down, believes Montreal researcher of Iranian origin Nimâ Machouf.
The announcement, seen as a gesture towards protesters, came after authorities decided on Saturday to revise a 1983 law on compulsory veiling in Iran, imposed four years after the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
It was the morality police who arrested Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian Kurd, in Tehran on September 13, accusing her of not respecting the dress code of the Islamic Republic, which requires women to wear the veil. in public.
His death was announced three days later. According to activists and her family, Mahsa Amini died after being beaten, but the authorities linked her death to health problems, denied by her parents.
A questionable ad
“The morality police […] was abolished by those who created it,” Attorney General Mohammad Jafar Montazeri announced on Saturday evening, quoted by the Isna news agency on Sunday. Note that the Ministry of the Interior has still not confirmed the news.
This claim was quickly cast in doubt by many Iranians on social media, who point out that another law enforcement body could easily take the place of the morality police.
Among them, Sahar Mofidi, doctoral student at the Center for International Studies and Research of the University of Montreal (CERIUM) and member of the Iranian diaspora in Montreal. The morality police are the “backbone” of the regime, he says.
It’s not that easy to end this. To see Western media saying that it’s abolished, that it’s a victory, it’s not yet true.
Sahar Mofidi, doctoral student at the Center for International Studies and Research of the University of Montreal
“It must also be said that in the streets of Tehran today, many women flout the rules of the morality police who have great difficulty in applying their controls in the streets,” adds Sahar Mofidi.
Mobilization continues
All members of the Iranian diaspora consulted on Sunday agree that the mobilization to bring down the Iranian regime must continue, despite the promises of the weekend.
“We think that this idea [d’abolir] the morality police are part of their strategy, probably suggested by the reformists, to divert people’s attention, to make people believe that we have heard their voice,” suggests Sherazad Adib.
“I consider it a great victory and it shows that the Iranian women’s uprising was worth it. But I don’t believe that’s the sign for the people to go home. People are repeating that they no longer believe in reforms, and this regime, which has too much blood on its hands, must fall,” declared Quebec Solidarity MP Ruba Ghazal.
The latter is at the origin of a motion unanimously supported by all the deputies of the National Assembly this week to condemn “the repression of women in Iran under an oppressive theocratic regime”.
Three days of demonstrations
The Iranians will begin this Monday three days of protests on a scale that promises to be unprecedented in order to make the government bend, explains Nimâ Machouf. “What we want is […] that there is a blockage, that the economic sphere in Iran becomes disorganized. In 1979, that’s what brought down the regime, ”she recalls.
As these “massive demonstrations” approach, the police would lack personnel to enforce order, hence this exit to try to calm the discontent, adds Sahar Mofidi for his part.
In Montreal, a vigil will be held in support of the Iranian people on Monday.
With Agence France-Presse