[Activists speak of their dismay at renewed patrols to enforce
wearing of the hijab, but insist protests will continue ahead of the
anniversary of Mahsa Amini’s death ]
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‘THERE’S NO OTHER OPTION BUT TO FIGHT’: IRANIAN WOMEN DEFIANT
AS ‘MORALITY POLICE’ RETURN  
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Deepa Parent
July 24, 2023
The Guardian
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_ Activists speak of their dismay at renewed patrols to enforce
wearing of the hijab, but insist protests will continue ahead of the
anniversary of Mahsa Amini’s death _

Thousands of people march to protest the death of Mahsa Amini in the
custody of Iranian authorities, Image: UGC/AFP

 

The return of Iran’s infamous Gasht-e-Irshad (“morality police”)
has been greeted with dismay, but protesters who spoke to the Guardian
said they would not be dissuaded from taking to streets again.

A police spokesperson confirmed last week that they had started
patrolling the streets to deal with civilians who “ignore the
consequences of not wearing the proper hijab and insist on disobeying
the norms”.

The announcement comes just two months ahead of the anniversary of
the death in custody
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September of Mahsa Amini, 22, who had been detained for allegedly not
properly wearing the Islamic headscarf. Her death led to the largest
wave of popular unrest
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years in Iran.

The Guardian spoke to women who took part in the nationwide protests
after Amini’s death, who said they have already seen police
harassing girls on the street for not wearing the hijab.

“I felt indifferent to the news that the ‘morality police’ have
been reinstated. Western media insists on telling us Iranians that
Gasht-e-Irshad was abolished, but I don’t know a single Iranian
friend of mine who believed that,” says a 22-year-old from Rasht.

[Iranian students raise hands painted red outside a university
building.]

Protests in October 2022 at the Islamic Azad University in Tehran
protest after the death of Mahsa Amini. Photograph: UGC/AFP/Getty
Images

“They [the morality police] were never gone and were being deployed
as security personnel in universities or as civilians in public
places. What the world sees is a tiny glimpse of what’s happening
here. Although everything looks normal to the ones who don’t care
about us women, if you notice, they are everywhere.

“I have worn the headscarf all my life, by choice, and my sister
doesn’t. I have always worn it halfway on my head. They killed Mahsa
for showing less hair than I do and I know with this official
announcement they have now been given a free hand to turn more
violent.”

In recent months, Iranian women and girls have been posting pictures
and videos of themselves on social media defying the mandatory hijab
law. “So many dozens of kids didn’t die [in vain] so a year later
we will go back to how we were before September 2022,” says a
university student from Tehran.

“Whether or not the regime wants to accept, we will hit the streets
again and there’s no going back. We are already planning huge
protests leading up to the one-year anniversary of Mahsa’s death.
There will be more arrests or worse. These are scare tactics and we
won’t fall for this.

“The morality police harassed me even before the protests began. The
security forces shot me with a paint gun on my head. I don’t fear
them. If we fear them and back off, what will be left of the
sacrifices made by the protesters who lost their lives and their
families? I am ready to continue the fight.”

Among those killed during protests
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Amini’s death was Minoo Majidi, a 62-year-old mother who was shot
with 167 pellets. She reportedly said to her family before attending
protests in Kermanshah: ‘If I don’t go out and protest, who else
will?’ Her daughter Mahsa Piraei said her mother always valued
women’s rights and freedom.

“By intensifying repressions, arrests and harassment under the
pretext of hijab law, the Islamic Republic sends a message to the
Iranian people: that we will beat and kill, and if anyone protests,
they will be killed too, just like they killed my mother. This circle
will continue as [long as] this regime will remain in power, as its
foundation is built upon violence and crimes.”

[A fire burns in a street in Iran filled with cars and people
protesting]

Mahsa Amini’s death led to the largest wave of popular unrest in
years in Iran. More protests are planned to mark the anniversary in
September. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images

Although the morality police have existed in some form since the
Islamic revolution in 1979, the current form, the Guidance Patrol, was
formed as an arm of the police force in 2005. Since then, it has
enforced strict hijab laws with multiple reports of violent arrests
and detentions.

In 2014, Masih Alinejad, an Iranian journalist and activist, launched
My Stealthy Freedom, an online movement encouraging women to share
pictures of themselves without a hijab. Alinejad continues to receive
images and videos of defiant Iranian women and girls.

“The battle over the hijab became a powerful rallying [cry] against
the gender apartheid regime in Iran and a sign of regime change,”
said Alinejad, adding that, after Amini’s death, demonstrations
quickly escalated into calls for the overthrow of Iran’s clerical
regime.

“Women were burning their headscarves, cutting their hair and
burning morality police vans. These women became the nightmare of the
whole regime and that is why the government try to resume hijab laws
to prevent another uprising on the anniversary. They know very well
that the next wave of women-led revolution in Iran will be much
heavier.”

University students have faced harassment
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suspensions and expulsion for refusing to wear a hijab. News of
morality police patrolling the streets has created more anxiety.

“I’m almost getting cold and numb with this news,” says one
university student from a city in north-east Iran. “The events of
last year are repeating themselves, even though my life is the same.
Even simple things have become a dream for us. In this hot weather of
38 degrees do they expect us to go out in a chador?”

The student added that the move to reinstate the morality police was
only to provoke women to go out in protest so they can be arrested as
a warning to others.

A resident in Tehran said morality police had been noting down the car
number plates of women spotted without a hijab. “They have been
clicking pictures of me and my friends who have been stepping out
without our headscarves. I fear they have already collected enough
data to go after us, one by one,” she says.

“I got into an argument with one of them recently outside a court.
The agents harshly ask women to wear a hijab and when we refuse, they
take our pictures, videos and our ID cards. Then we are summoned to
the court. I am still going out without a hijab despite the
announcement, because we are too many of us who have now decided to
defy the law and fight.

“If we fear, they will behave worse and torture more of my people.
As an Iranian woman, I say that there’s no other option but to
fight. We are not afraid of the morality police.”

_Deepa Parent is an independent journalist based in Paris who covers
conflict and its consequences on human rights_

 

* Iran Protests
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* Morality Police
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* Iranian women
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* Mahsa Amini
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