DUBAI/TEHRAN: Iran’s morality police has returned to the streets as the authorities announced a new campaign to force women to wear the Islamic headscarf on Sunday, 10 months after the death of a woman in the police custody that sparked countrywide protests.
The morality police had largely pulled back following the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in September 2022, though, the authorities insisted throughout the crisis that the rules had not changed.
The authorities had to struggle to contain mass protests that later started calling for the overthrow of the theocracy that has ruled the country for over four decades.
Iran’s clerical rulers view the hijab as a key pillar of the Islamic revolution that took them to power and consider more casual dress a sign of Western decadence.
The protests largely died down with the start of 2023 following a massive crackdown in which more than 500 protesters were killed and around 20,000 arrested. But many women continued to flaunt the official dress code, especially in the capital, Tehran, and other big cities.
The morality police were only rarely seen patrolling the streets after the protests gripped the country, and in December, there were even some reports — later denied — that they had been disbanded.
On Sunday, a police spokesman, Gen. Saeed Montazerolmahdi said the morality police would resume notifying and then detaining women not wearing hijab in public. The men and women of the morality police could be seen in Tehran, patrolling the streets in marked vans.
Women played a leading role in the protests as the demonstrations quickly escalated into calls for the overthrow of Iran’s clerical rulers, whom the mostly young protesters accuse of being corrupt, repressive and out of touch. Iran’s government, however, blamed the protests on a foreign conspiracy without providing evidence.
Several Iranian celebrities including prominent directors and actors from the country’s celebrated film industry were also part of the protests. Several Iranian actresses were also detained after appearing in public without the hijab or expressing support for the protests.
In the most recent case, actress Azadeh Samadi was barred from social media and a court ordered her to seek psychological treatment for “antisocial personality disorder” after she appeared at a funeral two months ago wearing a cap on her head.
