(Tehran) Iranian police announced on Sunday that they have restored patrols to punish more and more women for not wearing the veil in public places, ten months after the death of Mahsa Amini.
“As of today, the police will, through car and foot patrols, warn and punish people who unfortunately disobey orders and continue to disobey the dress code,” the doorman warned. – police spokesman Saïd Montazeralmahdi, quoted by the Tasnim agency.
This announcement comes ten months after the death, on September 16, 2022, of the 22-year-old Iranian Kurd Mahsa Amini, arrested by the morality police who accused her of having violated the dress code of the Islamic Republic, imposing in particular on women the wearing the veil in public.
In recent days, photos and videos, the authenticity of which could not be independently verified by AFP, have been posted on social media showing female police officers in chadors admonishing and arresting women not wearing the veil.
The Reform Daily Shargh said on Sunday that four women had recently been sentenced to “take psychology courses”, “clean hospitals” and were “prohibited from driving for two years”, after being found guilty.
The death of Mahsa Amini had sparked a vast protest movement with demonstrations in several cities in October and November before ebbing. Several hundred people, including members of the security forces, were killed and thousands arrested. Seven men were executed for their involvement in this movement.
Called into question by the demonstrators, the morality police had largely disappeared from the streets in recent months. And more and more women were going out with their heads uncovered, especially in Tehran and the big cities.
Since the beginning of the year, the authorities have taken a series of initiatives, ranging from the closure of businesses, in particular restaurants, to the installation of cameras in the streets to track down those who defy the ban.
At the same time, the judiciary and the government in May proposed a bill called “Support for the culture of hijab and chastity” in order to “protect society” and “strengthen family life”.
This text, which has sparked a lively debate, suggests strengthening the sanctions, in particular financial, against “any person removing their veil in public places or on the Internet”.
The morality police had started their patrols in 2006 after being created by the Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution under ultra-conservative President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (2005-2013), to “spread the culture of decency and hijab”.
Two months before the start of the protest, the ultra-conservative President Ebrahim Raïsi had called in July 2022 for the mobilization of “all institutions to strengthen the law on the veil”, declaring that “the enemies of Iran and Islam wanted to undermine the cultural and religious values of society”.