According to the attorney general in Iran, the vice squad, which until now was mainly responsible for enforcing dress codes for women, has been disbanded. “The vice squad has been disbanded, but the judiciary will continue to face this social challenge,” Shargh newspaper quoted Attorney General Mohammed Jafar Montaseri as saying on Sunday. There were no further details about the circumstances and implementation of the resolution.
Critics from the political leadership reacted cautiously to the announcement. The problem is not the moral police, but the lifting of the headscarf requirement, an Iranian activist wrote on Twitter. “Women should be able to go everywhere without a headscarf,” he demanded. And this is “only the first step”. According to observers, the dissolution of the vice police does not mean the end of the compulsory headscarf for women, but it does represent an important partial success for the women’s movement in Iran.
Morale police responsible for large protests
The vice squad has been the catalyst for the country’s systemic uprisings that have been going on for more than two months. In mid-September, the Islamic moral guards arrested Mahsa Amini († 22). A few strands of hair would peek out from under her headscarf. Amini died a few days later in the custody of the vice squad. Since then, people in Iran have been protesting against the Islamic system and its laws and regulations.
Since the outbreak of the protests, many women, especially in big cities, have increasingly ignored the headscarf and the Islamic dress code. Under Islamic law, women must wear a headscarf and a long, loose coat in public to cover their hair and body contours. For more than 40 years, this law has been part of the socio-political doctrine of the Islamic system to, as it is said, “save the land and people from Western cultural invasion.”
According to human rights activists, about 470 protesters have been killed since the demonstrations began, including 64 children and 60 security forces. Official information on this is contradictory. The Security Council speaks of 200, a Revolutionary Guard commander of 300 dead. In addition, thousands have been arrested in the past two months, including students, journalists, athletes and artists. Some protesters have also been sentenced to death by revolutionary courts. Further protests – and strikes, according to opposition circles – are planned across the country from Monday. (SDA/chs)