Opposition activists on Monday dismissed the announcement of the disbandment of Iran’s morality police and warned that authorities will continue to enforce their strict rules on women’s clothing.
Iran’s attorney general announced over the weekend the dissolution of this special unit of police, in charge of enforcing the dress code and which has the power to arrest women who they deem to be wearing headscarves inappropriately.
The shocking announcement came as the Islamic Republic is grappling with a wave of protests, sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old girl, who was detained by morality police for allegedly wearing the veil improperly.
Mohammad Jafar Montazeri’s statement appeared to be an off-the-cuff response to a question at a conference, leaving a lot of room for interpretation, rather than a prepared announcement about this unit, which is run by the Interior Ministry and not by power. judicial.
But even if this unit is dissolved, its removal would not mean any change in Iran’s policy of imposing the mandatory headscarf on women – a key ideological pillar for its clerical leaders – but rather a change in tactics in terms of how it is applied. warn activists.
It would be “probably too little too late” for the protesters, who are now demanding regime change and not just a loosening of dress regulations, Roya Boroumand, co-founder of the Abdorrahman Boroumand Center, a rights group, told AFP. USA.
– “Civil disobedience” –
“Unless they remove all legal restrictions on women’s clothing and laws that control citizens’ private lives, this is just a public relations measure,” Boroumand said.
According to her, “even if there is no morality police, nothing prevents other law enforcement agencies from applying these discriminatory laws.”
The morality police, known as Gasht-e Ershad [orientation patrols], began to circulate on the streets in 2006, after its creation during the presidency of the ultra-conservative Mahmud Ahmadinejad [2005-2013].
But Iran’s clerical leadership had been enforcing dress regulations, including the mandatory headscarf that women must wear in public, long before.
Under the last shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, women could dress however they wanted, and many adopted a style similar to that of Western countries. His father and predecessor, Reza Shah, had gone a step further in an edict issued in 1936, which sought to ban all Islamic headscarves and headscarves.
Since the start of the protest movement, more and more women have taken to the streets without the headscarf, especially in the affluent north of Tehran, the capital.
But the movement, also fueled by years of anger over economic problems and political repression, is now also demanding the end of the Islamic Republic led by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
The violent repression of the protests has left at least 448 dead, according to the Norway-based organization Iran Human Rights (IHR).
For Omid Memarian, an Iran analyst for Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN), “the alleged suspension” of the morality police “means nothing, as it had already become irrelevant due to the massive level of civil disobedience by women and to defiance of hijab-related norms”.
– ‘Pillar of the Islamic Republic’ –
However, for the analyst, the mandatory use of the veil is “one of the pillars of the Islamic Republic.” “Abolishing those laws and structures would mean a fundamental change in the identity and existence of the Islamic Republic,” he noted.
Some confusion reigned in Iran on Monday over Montazeri’s announcement, with only two reformist dailies carrying the story on their front pages and the conservative media largely ignoring it.
“The end of the morality police,” headlined the daily Sazandegi. But the Sharq newspaper was more cautious. “Is it the end of the patrols?” he wondered, noting that the police communication service had not confirmed it.
“We must not be fooled by the maneuvers that the Islamic Republic employs in times of desperation, as they could come back with other restrictive policies and measures,” Omid Memarian said.
The hijab “is still mandatory,” said Shadi Sadr, co-founder of the London-based NGO Justice for Iran. Although the protests began over Amini’s death, “Iranians will not rest until the regime disappears,” she said.