Is the protest that has been going on in Iran for months now bearing fruit? After Months of mobilization in Tehran and other major cities of the country, The authority announced the abolition of the morality police, which had been involved in the deaths of young people Mahza Amini.
Iranian Attorney General Mohammad Jafar argued on Saturday evening that the section “has nothing to do with the judiciary and was abolished by those who created it”. However, the terms of its cancellation have not been clarified. The disbanding of the patrol has yet to be confirmed by other Iranian officials. The Islamic Republic’s dress code-related checks may continue, where agents are responsible.
The “Islamic Guidance Patrol” was behind the arrest of 22-year-old Iranian Kurddin Mahza Amini, three days after his death sparked a wider protest movement across the country. According to activists and her family, the young woman died of being beaten, but authorities linked her death to health problems, which her parents denied.
Three months later, the dissolution of this police force illustrates “all the weakness of the regime”, as analyzed for Le Parisien by sociologist and author of the book “Window on Iran: The cry of a gagged people”, Mahnas Shiraly.
“Protesters are already toppling the regime”
“We can only see a sign that proves the weakness of the authorities in the face of the opposition movement. Despite arrests and violence, the demonstrators are working to topple the regime. “The Iranians, armed only with their anger, show themselves to be stronger than the Islamic Republic, yet continue to suppress them with cruelty”, the expert in Iran underlines.
Established during the 1979 Islamic Revolution, the Morality Police was created “to spread the culture of decency and hijab”. In other words, to ensure compliance with the Islamic Republic’s dress code, the veil should be imposed, especially on women. Composed of men in green uniforms and women in black chadors, the unit patrols the streets, searches clothing and makes arbitrary arrests.
Protesters “want regime out”
Already at that time, “this police inspired a terrible fear. It is made up of very aggressive people,” says Mahnaz Shirali. “Women were routinely arrested and sentenced to flogging because the authorities deemed their veils incompatible”. The role of this patrol has evolved over the years, but has always had its share of detractors, including from NGOs.
Last July, the country’s president, Ibrahim Raisi, called for “mobilizing all institutions to strengthen the law on the veil”. The zeal of the authorities increased as the number of raids and arrests increased. In September, death Mahza Amini, accused of disrespecting “good morals,” opened a breach and sparked a wave of demonstrations by women shouting their thirst for freedom. Evidence that the regime is reeling, the authority again made known on Friday Officials are involved in the issue of mandatory wearing of the veil.
The rigidity of an ultra-conservative force is now coming up against the modernist desire of the younger generation. Justice Mahnaz Shirali said that canceling a patrol would not be enough to quell a young man’s rebellion in his fight against state autocracy if it “represents a step”. “Iranian society’s demands go further. It doesn’t just demand the abolition of a police force or the wearing of the veil, but the departure of an entire regime,” insists Mahnas Shirali, for whom demonstrations must continue.
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