Hopes dashed as Iran's new president stays silent on morality police arrest
A video showing Iran's morality police violently arresting two teenage girls has once again sparked widespread anger in Iran. The footage surfaced at a time when many Iranians had hoped that the newly installed centrist president, Masoud Pezeshkian, would fulfil his campaign promise to end or at least mitigate the violence perpetrated by the dreaded "Gasht-e-Ershad" patrols against women. But the president has not commented on the video, and his appointment of an ultra-hardline interior minister has dashed hopes of change on Iran’s strict hijab rules.
Two years after the death of Mahsa Amini in the custody of Iran’s morality police ignited the "Woman, Life, Freedom" movement, tensions over the compulsory hijab remain as fierce as ever.
Although Iranian police claimed to have dismantled the morality police in December 2022 after months of protests, the reality on the ground tells a different story. Amateur videos and firsthand accounts by Iranian women indicate that the morality patrols resumed in April 2024 after Iran’s police chief ordered a crackdown on hijab violations. Our Observers say the same draconian regulations are imposed on women, enforced by the same female police officers in black chadors, using the same methods. The only change, our Observers say, is that their white vans no longer bear the inscription "Gasht-e-Ershad".
READ MORE: Violent arrests seen in Iran as 'morality patrols' resume in nationwide crackdown
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