Hijab protests: Three-day strike in Iran amid thriller surrounding closure of morality police

Anti-hijab protesters in Iran have known as for a three-day strike in Tehran amid conflicting stories on the shutting down of morality coverage. The present protests had been triggered by the loss of life of a 22-year-old after she was arrested by morality police for not sporting hijab correctly.

Iranians protests the loss of life of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini after she was detained by the morality police, in Tehran. (AP Photo/Middle East Images)

By India Today Web Desk: Iranians have known as for a three-day strike amid conflicting stories that the regime has abolished the morality police months after 22-year-old Mahsa Amini’s loss of life in custody fueled large protests. Amini was arrested for sporting her hijab improperly.

The protests which have grown into one of many largest sustained challenges to the nation’s theocracy for the reason that months after the 1979 Islamic Revolution, are refusing to die down even after stories on morality police shut down.

In what was perceived as a big win for protesters, Iran’s prosecutor basic Mohammad Jafar Montazeri introduced that the morality police unit has been abolished.

READ | ‘Pack your baggage and go away’: Iranian girls tackle clerics as anti-hijab protests intensify

However, there was no affirmation of the closure from the inside ministry, which is answerable for the morality police, and Iranian state media stated Mohammad Jafar Montazeri was not accountable for overseeing the power.

‘REAL DEMANDS’

As confusion prevailed over the standing of morality coverage whose important position was to implement strict guidelines on how folks, principally girls, gown and behave in public, an Iranian lawmaker stated the federal government is “paying attention to the people’s real demands,” state media reported.

ALSO READ | Iran reviewing decades-old obligatory hijab regulation amid protests

“Both the administration and parliament insisted that paying attention to the people’s demand that is mainly economic is the best way for achieving stability and confronting the riots,” lawmaker Nezamoddin Mousavi was quoted as saying by Iranian media. He didn’t tackle the reported closure of the morality coverage.

MORALITY POLICE ABOLISHED?

According to the Associated Press, for the reason that onset of protests, the place girls set their hijabs on hearth, knocked turbans off Muslim clerics’ heads and shouted anti-government slogans, there was a reported decline within the variety of morality law enforcement officials throughout Iranian cities and a rise in girls strolling in public with out headscarves, opposite to Iranian regulation.

The official who introduced the shut down of morality police offered no additional particulars about the way forward for the company or if its closure was nationwide and everlasting.

ALSO READ | Iran abolishes morality police after months-long anti-hijab protests

However, he stated that Iran’s judiciary will “continue to monitor behavior at the community level.”

More than 18,000 folks have been arrested within the protests and the violent safety power crackdown that adopted, in line with Human Rights Activists in Iran, a gaggle monitoring the demonstrations.

RALLY IN TEHRAN

Protesters have now known as for a three-day strike and a rally in capital Tehran’s Azadi Square on Wednesday. Similar requires strike motion and mass mobilisation have in previous weeks resulted in an escalation within the unrest.

IRAN IN VICIOUS CYCLE?

Rob Malley, the US particular envoy on Iran, stated that Iran’s management has locked itself right into a “vicious cycle” with its crackdown on the protests, The Guardian reported.

HIJAB LAW REVIEW

Amid all this, Mohammad Jafar Montazeri has additionally stated that it’s reviewing a decades-old obligatory hijab regulation that requires girls to cowl their heads. The hijab headband turned compulsory for all girls in Iran in April 1983, 4 years after the Islamic Revolution that overthrew the US-backed monarchy.

It stays a extremely delicate subject in a rustic the place conservatives insist it must be obligatory, whereas reformists wish to go away it as much as particular person selection.

Published On:

Dec 5, 2022