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Cases of stops and arrests are increasing. And the dress code should be tightened even more.
It’s all about this: For a few days now, Iran’s notorious morality police have been taking tougher action against women who do not adhere to dress codes such as headscarves. Videos posted on social media show that some checks also resulted in clashes between women and moral guards – although the films cannot be verified. One thing is certain: President Ebrahim Raisi defended the strict controls a few days ago after, at first glance, the headscarf regime had been handled somewhat less harshly over the last year and a half.
The white buses of the moral guards are a symbol of the regime’s violence against women.
More active moral guardians: But now the moral police are back on the road in their infamous white minibuses. “These buses are a symbol of the death of Jina Mahsa Amini and of the regime’s violence against women,” says ARD correspondent Karin Senz. She reports on Iran from Istanbul. Amini was mistreated by moral guards on such a bus in the fall of 2022 and later died in the hospital – which led to months of protests across the country. The buses disappeared from the streets during the protests, but now they and the moral police are present again in Iran’s cities.
Partially brutal approach: As Senz reports, supposedly fallible women are now being approached again by the moral guardians on the street and asked to get on the bus. Anyone who resists is sometimes violently taken away. According to opposition media, there are also attacks, blackmail or theft by police or moral guardians. “And anyone who complains about it on social media, for example, will have their cell phone blocked,” reports Senz.
The regime fears women and tries to keep them down.
Stricter regulations: The regime’s religious hardliners want to take even tougher action against headscarf violations. A new law provides for draconian penalties. The reform has already been passed by parliament and will soon be submitted to the Guardian Council, an ultra-conservative control body of the mullahs’ regime. “The dress code is a pillar of the Islamic Republic – the regime feeds on it,” says the ARD correspondent. This includes having power over women and treating them as second-class citizens. “The regime fears women and tries to keep them down,” says Senz.
The gap between the old “wise” men of the regime and the very young society is immense.
Possible new protests: It is very difficult to estimate whether the tougher crackdown on women in Iran might lead to new protests, says Senz. However, even after the death of Mahsa Amini in autumn 2022, she did not think that there could be such large protests as there were. For Senz there is no question: “Protests in Iran are just a matter of time. Because the gap between the old “wise” men of the regime and the very young society that knows what life can be like in the West is immense.”