Women-led protests, described as “riots” by the authorities, have swept across Iran since the 22-year-old Iranian of Kurdish origin died in police custody on September 16, 3 days after her arrest by police in Tehran.
Protesters burned their mandatory hijab headliners and shouted anti-government slogans, and since Amini’s death, an increasing number of women wear the hijab, especially in parts of Tehran.
“The moral police has nothing to do with the judicial formula and has been abolished,” Prosecutor General Mohammad Jafar Montazeri was quoted as saying by the ISNA news agency.
His comment came at a convention where he responded to a player who asked “why the moral police were shut down,” according to the report.
Since the 1979 Islamic Revolution that toppled Iran’s U. S. -backed monarchy, there has been some sort of official oversight of the strict dress code for men and women.
But under extremist President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the morality police, officially known as Gasht-e Ershad or “Orientation Patrol,” was created to “spread the culture of modesty and hijab. “
The scenarios were set through Iran’s Supreme Council of Cultural Revolution, which is now headed by President Ebrahim Raisi.
They began patrols in 2006 to enforce the dress code that also requires women to wear long garments and bans shorts, ripped jeans and other clothing deemed immodest.
The announcement of the abolition of the sets came a day after Montazeri said that “parliament and the judiciary are working” to change the law that forces women to cover their heads.
Raisi said in televised comments Saturday that Iran’s republican and Islamic bases were enshrined in the letter, “but there are strategies to implement the charter that can be flexible. “
The hijab compulsory in 1983.
Morale officials first issued warnings before beginning cracking down and arresting women 15 years ago.
The squads were composed of men in green uniforms and women dressed in black chadors, garments that cover the head and upper body.
The role of the ensembles has evolved, but it has been debatable even among presidential candidates.
Dress criteria changed, especially under moderate former President Hassan Rouhani, when it became commonplace to see women in skinny jeans and loose, colorful scarves.
But in July of this year, her successor, the ultraconservative Raisi, called for the mobilization of “all levels of the state to the law of the veil. “
Raisi charged at the time that “the enemies of Iran and Islam have attacked the culture and values of society by spreading corruption. “
Iran’s regional rival, Saudi Arabia, has also hired morality police to enforce women’s dress codes and other norms of behavior. Since 2016, the force there has been shelved in a bid to shed its austere image in the Sunni Muslim kingdom.
In September, the Islamic People’s Party of Iran, the country’s main reformist party, supported the repeal of the hijab law.
The party, created through relatives of former reformist President Mohammad Khatami, calls on the government to “prepare the legal elements that pave the way for the annulment of the mandatory hijab law. “
Recently, on Saturday, he also called on the Islamic Republic to “officially announce the end of moral police activities” and “allow non-violent demonstrations. “
Iran accuses its foe the United States and its allies, adding Britain and Israel, as well as Kurdish teams based outside the country, of fomenting street protests.
More than 300 people have been killed in the unrest, adding dozens of members of the security forces, an Iranian general said Monday.
Oslo-based non-governmental organization Iran Human Rights said Tuesday that at least 448 other people had been “killed because of ongoing protests by security forces across the country. “
Thousands of others were arrested, in addition to prominent Iranian actors and footballers.
Among them, actor Hengameh Ghaziani, who was arrested last month. She had posted a video on Instagram of herself cutting her helmet. He was later released on bail, Iranian news agencies reported.