The Moral Police—known as the Gasht-e Irshad or Guidance Patrol—was established under President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to spread a culture of modesty and the hijab.
Image credit source: Getty Images
Iran In Mahsa Amini After the protests that lasted for more than 2 months after the death, the government has taken a big step and dissolved the moral policing. This step is considered big because 22-year-old Mahsa Amini was arrested by the Morality Police, after which he died in custody. Mehsa Amini was arrested for violating the women’s dress code.
Moral policing—known as the Gasht-e Irshad or Guidance Patrol—was established under President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to spread a culture of modesty and the hijab. It mainly enforces laws meant to regulate Islamic dress. Also it lays emphasis on making sure that women are wearing hijab. Asal Red, research director of the National Iranian American Council, says that apart from this, she also sees that the clothes are not too tight, or that the body parts are not showing too much, that the sleeves are not up or the jeans are not torn. If this happens then they will take you to the detention center.
‘Deployed to harass women’
Many Iranians believe that the Moral Police is nothing more than a way for the government to exercise control over the people. “It has nothing to do with morality or policing,” says Hadi Ghaemi, executive director of the New York-based Center for Human Rights in Iran. “These are state security forces deployed to harass and subjugate women and thus make a continuous show of force.
Hadi Ghaemi says that they do the work of interfering in people’s personal lives. Apart from taking care of women’s clothes, he also arrests and detains those who drink alcohol or participate in events where men and women are present together and do not know each other.
Roxanne Farmanfarmian, who teaches international politics of the Middle East and North Africa at the University of Cambridge, says the moral police did not officially become a separate force until after the Iran-Iraq war in the 1990s. Iran has made it mandatory for women to cover their heads since 1979.
At the same time, Iran is not the only country to employ moral policing. In Saudi Arabia, Mutawa used to be harsh on men and women for mingling with each other or consuming alcohol. But since 2016 the institution has been largely sidelined and some restrictions on women have been eased.
: Language Inputs