(Paris) Western powers questioned on Monday the scope of the surprise announcement of the abolition of the morality police in Iran after nearly three months of demonstrations, “nothing indicating” according to Washington that the situation of women in the country would improve.
Activists supporting the protest movement sparked by the death of the young Iranian Kurd Mahsa Amini on September 16, after her arrest by the morality police, also saw no change in the dress code imposed on women.
The announcement of the dissolution of this very dreaded police force, responsible in particular for enforcing the wearing of the veil in the Islamic Republic, “will not change anything” in the mobilization of Iranians, estimated a spokesperson for the German government.
“Unfortunately, there is no evidence that Iranian leaders are improving the way they treat women and girls or stopping the violence they inflict on peaceful protesters,” a US State Department spokesperson said.
Calls have been made on social media for a three-day strike in Iran starting Monday.
In Tehran, the shops of the grand bazaar were open, but its aisles almost deserted. “We are open but we are closed because there are no customers”, testified a shopkeeper who sells beauty products.
Images posted online showed shops with curtains down in Sanandaj, Iranian Kurdistan, as well as in Isfahan, Iran’s third largest city.
Mahsa Amini, 22, was arrested on September 13 in Tehran by the morality police who accused her of not having respected the dress code requiring women to wear the veil in public. His death sparked a protest movement not seen since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
This weekend, Iran’s Attorney General, Mohammad Jafar Montazeri, announced the abolition of the morality police, created in 2006 under ultra-conservative President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (2005-2013) to “spread the culture of decency and of wearing the veil”.
This announcement was seen as a gesture towards the demonstrators. But human rights activists interpreted it more as an improvised response to a question posed at a conference.
They also felt that an abolition of the morality police, even if it became a reality, would in no way change the obligation to wear the veil, imposed by a law dating from 1983.
” Civil disobedience ”
A removal of these units would be “probably too limited and would come too late” for the demonstrators, who are now calling for regime change, Roya Boroumand, co-founder of the human rights group Abdorrahman, told AFP. Boroumand Center, based in the United States.
“It’s just a displacement of the morality police”, she believes, adding that “nothing prevents other institutions” from enforcing “discriminatory laws”.
Made up of men in green uniforms and women wearing black chadors, the morality police began their patrols in 2006 with the aim of enforcing the dress code which also prohibits women from wearing tight pants or shorts.
PHOTO BEHROUZ MEHRI, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE ARCHIVES
The rejection of the compulsory wearing of the veil was at the origin of the first demonstrations in September. But the movement, fueled by anger over economic conditions and political repression, is now openly directed against the regime.
According to reports from Tehran, there have been fewer morality police vans on the streets since the protests began.
Since the death of Mahsa Amini, a growing number of women are uncovering their heads, especially in the upscale north of Tehran. Images show women breaking taboos by participating in protests or going shopping bareheaded.
“The end of the patrols? »
“The supposed suppression of the morality police means nothing because it was already moot, due to the massive level of civil disobedience among women,” said Omid Memarian, analyst for Democracy for the Arab World Now.
According to him, wearing the veil is “one of the pillars of the Islamic Republic. Abolishing these laws and structures would mean a fundamental change in the identity and existence of the Islamic Republic”.
The Attorney General’s statement and the confusion it caused were interpreted as a sign of the regime’s concern, in the face of an unabated challenge.
The crackdown has already claimed 448 lives, according to the Oslo-based NGO Iran Human Rights (IHR).
On Monday, only the reform dailies published the information on the front page. “Is this the end of the patrols? asks the newspaper Sharghstressing that the announcement has not been officially confirmed by the police.
The veil “is still mandatory,” noted Shadi Sadr, co-founder of the London-based group Justice for Iran. While Mahsa Amini’s death sparked the protests, “Iranians won’t give up until the regime falls.”