Time.news – The words of Iran’s attorney general on the “closure” of the notorious morality police have not yet found confirmation from the authorities competent. Disseminated by the Isna agency and relaunched by various international media, the statements of Mohamad Jafar Montazeri from Qom went around the world, suggesting a gesture of détente towards the protest movement, which for almost three months has been calling for more freedom after the death – precisely in the custody of the morality police, last September 16 – of the young Mahsa Amini, accused of not wearing the obligatory veil correctly.
However, it is not the judiciary but the Ministry of the Interior that has the jurisdiction to make such a decision and no official confirmation has yet come from the government. Even the official Iranian media have distanced themselves from the news. In a public meeting, Montazeri was asked why, since September, the patrols of what is called ‘Gasht-e Ershad’ have not been seen around anymore.
“The moral police has nothing to do with the judiciary. It was abolished by the same people who established it”, replied the attorney general, assuring that “of course, the judiciary will continue to monitor the behavior of society”.
The words of Montazeri – who had also announced, without too many details, that Parliament and the Security Council they are discussing the issue of compulsory hijab – should be taken with caution: to many analysts, such as the writer and expert on the Middle East Arash Azizi, they seemed “unclear at best”.
In fact, the Gasht-e Ershad responds to the Ministry of the Interior, which has not yet officially commented on the news. “There is no confirmation that the activities of the police responsible for guaranteeing ‘moral security’ in society have actually ended,” the broadcaster al Jazeera reported.
“No official of the Islamic Republic has said that the morality police have been closed”, specified the Iranian state TV in Arabic Al-Alam, quoted by CNN. Meanwhile, on social networks in Farsi, the news was greeted with skepticism: both the obligation to wear the veil, one of the pillars on which the Islamic Republic is founded, and the checks on social behavior remain in effect for now.
Meanwhile, since Monday the protesters have called three days of strikes while the toll of the repression implemented by the authorities worsens: according to human rights groups, at least 470 have died, including 64 minors.
After 1979, ‘Islamic Revolutionary Committees’ under the Revolutionary Guards – the Islamic Republic’s ideological army – set up patrols to enforce the dress code and “morals” in the Islamic Republic.
The moral police have been created by the Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution under the ultra-conservative president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (2005-2013), to “spread the culture of decency and the hijab”.
The goal was to enforce the strict dress code that requires all women – Iranian and foreign, Muslim or not – not only to cover their heads with veils, but also not to wear tight pants or bare their legs. Violators of the code risk arrest. Under the presidency of Hassan Rohani, the application and controls of the dress code had been relaxed but with the arrival in power of the ultra-conservative Ebrahim Raisi, the ‘Gasht-e Ershad’ has returned to acting harshly.