Vice police disbanded in Iran – crisis summit in parliament “Twitter files”: This would be behind the Twitter censorship of the Hunter Biden story

After protracted demonstrations, Iran’s vice squad, which was responsible for enforcing the dress code for women, has been disbanded. The Iranian media reported this on Sunday, citing the country’s attorney general. The death of a young woman after being arrested by the vice squad sparked the bloody mass protests against the political leadership that have been going on in Iran for more than two months.

According to media reports, President Ebrahim Raisi also met with several ministers for a crisis summit on Sunday. The agency Isna reported that the latest developments in the country were on the agenda of the non-public meeting at the parliament in Tehran.

“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 dissolution of the vice squad. Critics from the political leadership reacted cautiously to the announcement.

In mid-September, the Islamic moral guardians arrested 22-year-old Mahsa Amini because a few locks of her hair were said to be sticking 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 system and its laws and regulations.

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.

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.”

It was initially unknown what exactly would be discussed at the crisis summit on Sunday. In the run-up, it was speculated that it could be about the protesters’ demands. Think of the revision of the Iranian constitution and the abolition of the headscarf, but also new elections or a referendum on the development of the political system in the country. However, observers did not have high hopes for the meeting.

According to the presidential office, Raisi had already held talks with parliament speaker Mohammed-Bagher Ghalibaf and justice chief Gholam-Hussein Mohseni-Edschehi on Saturday evening. Raisi repeatedly emphasizes that while Iran is tolerant of criticism, it is not tolerant of foreign-controlled riots carried out by their mercenaries, as he describes the protests. The cleric also claims that Iran’s constitution is among the most advanced in the world and there is no reason to change it.

Human rights activists estimate that about 470 protesters have been killed since the demonstrations began. 60 security forces are said to have been killed. Official information on this is contradictory. The Security Council speaks of a total of 200 dead, a commander of the Revolutionary Guard 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/dpa)