Iran Resumes Enforcing Hijab After Deadly Protests
By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
TEHRAN (Worthy News) – Iran warned Sunday that its morality police would resume patrols to force women to wear headscarves in public, 10 months after the death of a young woman in custody sparked nationwide protests in which hundreds died.
The Islamic government threatened criminal prosecution for women refusing to obey laws requiring them to wear hijabs in public.
Saeed Montazer Al-Mahdi, the spokesperson for the Iranian law enforcement force, confirmed on Sunday that police patrols were now operational on foot and with vehicles. He said they were cracking down on people whose covering is inappropriate in the Islamic Republic.
The morality police would “issue warnings and then introduce to the judicial system people who unfortunately insist on their norm-breaking behavior without concern for the consequences of their covering that is outside of the norm,” he said in published remarks.
That marked a change of tone from recent months when many women had begun leaving their homes without hijabs or long shirts, and enforcement was limited, witnesses said.
In September 2022, Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman, was arrested by the morality police for not properly observing the country’s dress code. She died in police custody a few days later.
Iran’s security forces used lethal force to crack down on the ensuing protests killing hundreds.
However, in recent months morality police have been less visible in enforcing the hijab, a pillar of clerical rule.
SURVEILLANCE CAMERAS
Instead, police employed surveillance cameras to identify hijab violators who were given warnings, fines, or sent to appear in court—people who violate the dress code while in their vehicles could have their cars impounded.
The republic has also imposed unusual punishments in recent weeks on women deemed to have broken morality laws.
A woman in the town of Varamin, whose scarf had slipped on to her shoulders while driving, was sentenced last week to washing dead bodies for a month.
Well-known actress Azadeh Samadi, who attended a funeral wearing a cap instead of a headscarf, was also sentenced on Saturday to participate in psychological classes for her “social illness.”
After the protests, Iranian authorities refrained mainly from highly aggressive methods of enforcing mandatory hijab laws that were imposed shortly after the country’s 1979 Islamic revolution. That approach appears to be gradually shifting, analysts warned.
Yet a female customer at a Tehran fabric shop on Sunday said: “The Islamic Republic knows it cannot win this war, and women are not scared of them.”
The protests following Amini’s death also occurred as Iran’s economy deteriorated, partly due to U.S. sanctions over Iran’s nuclear program.
SOCIAL SOLIDARITY
The fabric shopkeeper said: “In the middle of this economic crisis, such announcements [about the morality police] only make people angrier.”
Yet the Iranian law enforcement force announced that the crackdown was aimed at “social solidarity” to “strengthen family foundations” and “respond to public demands” as well as to requests from senior leaders, including President Ebrahim Raisi.
It was not immediately clear whether the Islamic Republic was determined to implement its threat strictly ahead of expected protests marking the first anniversary of Mahsa Amini’s death.
Little sign of the morality police was visible in Tehran’s streets on Sunday, witnesses said.
However, the prospect of more police control increased concerns among moderate Muslims and devoted Christians.
Both groups have been targets of prosecution by Islamic authorities.
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