“The vice squad’s operations have been halted on the instructions of the prosecutor’s office,” said Ali Chanmohammadi, spokesman for the Center for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice, as reported by the news portal Entekhab. In the past, the vice squad enforced the regulations of the Virtue Center.
The actions of the moral police sparked the systemic protests in the country that have been going on for more than two months. In mid-September, the Islamic moral guards 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.
The spokesperson for the headquarters said that a decision should be made soon on other “forms of adherence to the hijab” – i.e. the Islamic dress code for women.
Iran’s attorney general said on Sunday that the vice squad had been abolished. The statement was initially met with skepticism by many protesters and critics of the political leadership. They continue to advocate for the abolition of the headscarf obligation in the country. Women in Iran fear that the surveillance activities of the vice squad could simply be taken over by other security forces once they are disbanded. Activists also see the moral policing statements as a “distraction tactic” to appease the tense situation in the country.
(SDA)