Things to know about Iran’s ethics police

Iran’s attorney general said this weekend that a special police unit is responsible for enforcing the country’s strict Muslim dress code for women. used to Turn off. If true, it would be the government’s first concession in nearly three months of protests.

This force, officially known as the Guiding Patrol, was one of the main causes of the protests that began in mid-September after the death of Mr. Mahsa Amini, 22, who was arrested for violating the dress code and was in custody at the time of her death. The protests quickly turned into a series of grievances against the authoritarian clerical system of rule that has existed for the past 43 years.

Since the start of the protests, the ethics police have seemingly disappeared from the streets, raising questions about their status and the status of the so-called hijab laws they are responsible for enforcing. practices, which require women, including foreign tourists, to cover their faces. their hair and body in public with long, loose clothing.

Attorney General Mohammad Javad Montazeri made his remarks about the force being shut down on Saturday during a press conference following a religious event. But the status of the ethics police is still in question, with no government confirmation of the closure.

And even if the force is disbanded, it seems unlikely that will appease the protesters, whose demands have gone far beyond just removing the headscarf or the mandatory headscarf. , and who have continued to confront security forces around the world. country for almost three months.

Who are the ethics police and what laws do they enforce?

In the early years after the 1979 Islamic Revolution brought the clerics to power, the government created a special police branch tasked with regulating women’s sexual dress and behavior. Over the years this unit operated under various branches of the armed forces and in 2006 it was renamed the ethics police.

Over the past decade, the moral police and hijab laws have become stinging symbols of the Islamic Republic’s control of women’s lives. Ethical agents have been stationed in cities around the country, where they patrol the streets in white and green vans.

Among their duties: discourage entertainment or dress up, penalize drivers who allow women to ride without hair, and raid and shut down businesses. businesses and concerts where people are perceived to behave in a non-Muslim manner.

The force offers arbitrary punishments, ranging from verbal notices to fines, arrests and beatings.

Iranian women have challenged the hijab law since its inception, often by wearing fashionable coats and scarves that reveal some of their hair. Their defiance has turned the hijab law and the moral police into one continue point of friction.

The enforcement of the code of ethics relaxed slightly after the 2013 election of Hassan Rouhani is the president.

But with last June’s election of President Ebrahim Raisi, a hardliner, the ethics police reappeared as a permanent force in the city’s squares and shopping centres, detained women who were said to be “revealingly dressed” and loaded them into trucks to the police station. . Alleged violators are forced to sign affidavits vowing never to violate the dress code again, and they must attend a re-education course.

After Ms. Amini’s death in September, the US government imposed new sanctions against ethical police for abusing women and protesters.

Is the ethics police really disbanded?

The status of the force is still unclear.

Since Ms. Amini’s death, one has rarely seen ethical agents. In their place, however, other security forces, including the notoriously brutal Basij militia, beat and arrested women deemed to defy hijab laws, videos posted on social media association shows.

While attending a religious event on Saturday, Mr. Montazeri, the attorney general, responded to a question about the status of the ethics police by saying that the authorities that created it had shut it down.

However, he added that the judiciary would continue to monitor social behaviour, leaving open the possibility that the law on headscarves would continue to be enforced.

The comments came a day after Mr Montazeri said the judiciary was working with other authorities to draft a bill “regarding virginity and headscarves”, and project ant will reach an agreement within 15 days.

The next day, Mr. Raisi, the president, said in a television interview that “there are methods and mechanisms of law enforcement that need to be reviewed.” according to IRNAIran’s state news agency.

Other statements from Iranian officials did not help clarify the current situation regarding the ethics police.

Iran’s Foreign Minister, Hossein Amir Abdollahian, asked over the weekend about the ethics police at a press conference in Belgrade, Serbia, did not deny that the force had been abolished and simply said: “In Iran, things are going well within the framework of democracy and freedom,”

On Sunday, a state television channel, Al Alam, appeared to attempt to retract the attorney general’s comments, claiming they were taken out of context.

The report said: “No official in the Islamic Republic of Iran has confirmed reports of the Guidance Patrol being abolished.

However, other state channels simply say that the government is not backing down from the mandatory hijab law without indicating in one way or another the status of the ethics police.

The various statements could suggest disagreement within the ruling establishment on a range of issues around how the hijab law should be implemented or whether it should be enforced.

Appearing on Monday at a pro-hijab rally in the holy city of Qom, Hossein Jalali, a member of Parliament, said the government would not back down.

“We will not withdraw from the policy of headscarves and virginity, otherwise, withdrawing will mean abandoning the entire Islamic Republic,” he said. “The hijab is our flag and we won’t let it fall.”

How will disbanding the ethical police force affect the protests and the Iranian people?

So far, the government’s response to the protesters has been to denounce them and use violence to stop them. Abolishing the ethics police would be the government’s first major concession.

But it’s not clear that doing so will have much of an effect: Removing the force could be seen as a measure of the government’s desperation in the face of mass protests.

Many Iranians insist that such a move is just an attempt by the government to divert attention from the crisis that has killed at least 400 people, including 50 minors, according to human rights groups. . The United Nations says about 14,000 people have been arrested.

On social media, activists say the actions are too little too late and that the protesters’ demands went far beyond hijab law to include the collapse of the ruling system itself.

Hadi Ghaemi, executive director of the Center for Human Rights in Iran, an independent New York-based organization, said: “For ordinary Iranians, the moral police are no longer relevant now. . The recent wave of unrest has effectively led the unit to disband, he said, as it is likely the unit must be armed and redeployed to combat the violence in the streets.

Mr Ghaemi said of the protesters: “Their grievances are now much deeper than the moral police or the hooded law – this is not why hundreds of people still put their lives first. Top. “This has evolved into something much larger that is questioning the entire political system.”

Abolition of the ethics police could make all the difference right after Amini’s death, he said. But at this stage, it is just a desperate attempt to blunt the protesters’ broader demands for an end to clerical authoritarian rule.

If anything, the government’s moves could encourage more protesters, he said, who have called for a three-day strike and nightly protests until Wednesday of this week.

Farnaz Fassihi contribution report.