No Impact Of Anti-Hijab Protests? What Return Of Hijab Police Means For Iran

The controversial ‘morality police’ in Iran that were the target of fervent protests in the Islamic country for several months, following the death of Mahsa Amini, have re-surfaced and resumed their activities on the streets of Iran.

Recent developments in Iran provide evidence of the resurgence of the morality police.

Activists backing the protests have put out videos of the police acting against women not adhering to the state-prescribed code for hijab. Iran’s state media have quoted top officials of Iran police confirming that morality police would indeed resume patrols like they used to before the protests.

What are the latest developments in Iran confirming return of morality police?

Iran-born and exiled anti-hijab activist Masih Alinejad posted a video on 15 July showing a personnel from the morality police detaining a girl not wearing hijab.

Alinejad posted, “This is Iran today and this is how the morality police arrested a teenager for not wearing a hijab. Mahsa Zhina Amini was taken away like this, then killed. Where are those journalists who excitedly reported the cancellation of those morality police?”

As per Iran government-run news agency Fars, Saeid Montazeralmahdi, spokesman for Iran’s enforcement body, officially said that the morality police would restart patrols in vehicle or foot across the country from Sunday (16 July).

Other Iran-based news publications reported protests in Rasht city of Iran over three arrests for improper hijab.

Why is the return of morality police significant?

The reinstatement of the morality police holds significant implications.

The unit initially pulled back after public protests erupted over death of a woman named Mahsa Amini in police custody after she was detained by police for inadequate veiling in September. Amini was 22.

Although the Iranian state insisted that Amini died due to illness, her family and activists said she was beaten up and tortured by the police.

Street protests that began soon after her death continued for several months. With protesters raising the chants of ‘death to Khamenei” (Iran’s Supreme Leader since 1989 who replaced Khomeini) and ‘mullahs must get lost’, the agitations are also being seen as an anti-regime movement.

Security forces violently cracked down on protesters. As per reports, over 500 protesters have been killed and 20,000 arrested for protesting.

Amidst widespread international criticism of the Iranian state's harsh crackdown, reports emerged in December suggesting that the morality police would be disbanded. However, activists, including Alinejad, swiftly dismissed this news as false, expressing little hope that the government would take such action.

The confirmation of the morality police's return vindicates these activists' skepticism and implies that the protests have not succeeded in influencing the government to change its course.

Who are morality police?

The morality police, also known as Gasht-E-Ershad, were established in 2005 as a unit of Iran's police force with the stated aim of enforcing Islamic social codes to promote virtue and prevent vice.

This unit typically operates through a police vehicle carrying male and female officers stationed at public places to monitor public behaviour and clothing.

Offenders are either counselled or fined at the police station. It is estimated that there are approximately 7,000 officers in this police unit.

Why the strict laws on veiling in Iran?

The strict laws on veiling in Iran have their roots in the immediate aftermath of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini's ascent to power in 1979.

Khomeini mandated the wearing of hijab for all women, irrespective of their religion or nationality. This hijab required an all-body covering, except for the face.

Khomeini, who had led a movement against the pro-Western secular monarchy, replacing it with an anti-Western Islamist theocracy, justified his decision by denigrating unveiled women as useless, distracting, and naked.

In 1979, Khomeini told New York Times, “The coquettes who put on makeup and go into the street showing off their necks, their hair, their shapes, did not fight against the Shah. They never did anything good, not those. They do not know how to be useful, neither socially, nor politically, nor professionally. And this is so because, by uncovering themselves, they distract men, and upset them. Then they distract and upset even others.”

Angry at the speech, tens of thousands of women staged a march from Tehran University to a government office chanting, “In the dawn of freedom, there is an absence of freedom.”

Despite the protests, Khomeini went on to write compulsory hijab into law. This meant that four years after the women’s agitation, the law was amended to penalise those women who did not wear the hijab. They could be imprisoned, get lashed or asked to pay hefty fines.

To this day, the law remains in force, symbolising the enduring grip of strict veiling regulations in Iran.