The non-governmental organization Amnesty International on Tuesday called on the international community «not to be fooled» by «dubious» claims from Iran about the possible dismantling of the ‘morality police’, after nearly three months of demonstrations over the death in custody of a woman arrested for allegedly wearing the veil incorrectly.
Iran’s prosecutor general, Mohamad Yavad Montazeri, said Saturday that «the ‘morality police’ has been dismantled by the same people who created it» and added that the judicial apparatus had no control over it, in a message apparently aimed at calming the spirits of the demonstrators after the mobilizations, which have left more than 400 dead, according to various NGOs.
However, the state television channel Al Alam reproached the Western media hours later for interpreting Montazeri’s statements as «a withdrawal of the Islamic Republic from its position on the hijab and religious morality as a consequence of the riots. «No official of the Islamic Republic of Iran has said that the Irshad Patrol — the ‘morality police’ — has been annulled,» the broadcaster noted.
In this regard, Amnesty International’s director for the Middle East and North Africa, Heba Morayef, stressed that «the prosecutor general’s statements were deliberately vague and did not mention the legal and political infrastructure that keeps the practice of compulsory veiling against women and girls firmly in place.»
«To say that the ‘morality police’ has nothing to do with the judicial apparatus distorts a reality that has, for decades, criminalized women and girls under abusive and discriminatory veil laws that have been backed by the judicial apparatus,» she explained.
«In the face of outrage in Iran and globally over this extreme form of gender discrimination and violence, the Iranian authorities are simply passing the hot potato to evade their responsibility,» Morayef has criticized.
In this sense, he emphasized that «the international community and the international media should not allow the Iranian authorities to cover their eyes». «The compulsory veiling is entrenched in Iran’s Penal Code and other laws and regulations that allow administrative and security agencies to subject women to arbitrary arrest and detention and deny them access to public institutions, including hospitals, schools, government offices and airports if they do not cover their hair,» he recalled.
«Until the day all these laws and regulations are repealed, the same violence that resulted in the arrest and death of Mahsa Amini will continue against millions of women and girls,» said Morayef, who noted that «it is important to remember that the protesters in Iran are not just calling for the dismantling of the ‘morality police’, but for a transition to a new political and legal system that respects their human rights and basic freedoms».
«The popular uprising taking place in Iran reflects a nationwide anger over decades of oppression of the Iranian people, many of whom continue to die on a daily basis simply for wanting freedom, democracy and human rights,» he reiterated.
