Iran considers disbanding morality police, changing hijab law, official says

President Ebrahim Raisi echoed his remarks in a televised address on Saturday, saying Iran’s Islamic system is protected by its constitution, but added that “there are ways to implement the constitution that allow flexibility”.

According to Hengaw, a Kurdish human rights group based in Norway, protests have continued in the cities of Mahabad and Bukan in Iran’s Kurdish region, accompanied by fires and roadblocks.

Analysts said whether Montazeri’s comments reflected a senior official’s decision by Iran’s rulers to make sweeping changes to the system enforcing the hijab law, or whether they were a temporary move aimed at suppressing protests. It is unknown whether it is a typical overture.

Civil rights activist Atena Daemi in Tehran said the moral police had become less prominent in enforcing the hijab law since the protests began. She added that if the protests subsided, the government would likely resume using police or create another mechanism to pressure women to cover their heads in public.

“They will continue to deal with people who don’t wear the Islamic hijab,” she said, adding that she didn’t believe the moral police’s claim to have been disbanded.

The decision to formally disband the Morality Police came after Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei, who has strongly defended the obligatory wearing of the hijab in recent years, and Culture, a government commission appointed by Khamenei who created the police force. The Great Revolutionary Supreme Council is likely to be involved.

“People’s problem with the Islamic Republic is not just the hijab,” said Azam Junggrabi, who was imprisoned in Iran for protesting the veil and now lives in Canada. People want a change of government

Montazelli said recommendations on changes to hijab laws will be made later this month. “We are trying to quickly address the hijab problem and adopt sensible solutions,” he said.

He said the dissolution of the morality police, which was set up in 2005, was done by a commission of government officials, but gave no other details. Media reports on his remarks said the country’s Islamic Courts would continue to monitor the behavior of its citizens.

The women’s headgear law sparked nationwide protests that began after the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who died in custody after being arrested by moral police for wearing a hijab improperly. Her death has set a nerve among many Iranian families whose female members have been targeted by police officers tasked with enforcing Iran’s strict Islamic dress and code of conduct. There are conservative women and men among them, joining the ranks of secular youth who say the enforcement of rules is often capricious.

Some women have burned their hijabs and avoided wearing them in public since the protests began. He says he’s trying to overthrow him.

The administration appears to be testing whether such concessions can strip broad support for the demonstration among other Iranians, analysts say.

Mahsa Alimardani, a senior fellow at the London-based human rights group Article 19, said: “They are probably tired and think small superficial concessions like this will quell the uprising against them.” It certainly won’t stop protesters or appease those who advocate complete regime change.”

US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said Tehran’s move could be a positive response to the protests. “But we have to see how it actually works and what the Iranian people are thinking,” he said on CBS’s “Face the Nation” on Sunday. “It’s their problem and it’s up to them,” he said when asked if he thought the move would stop months of protests the military has been trying to quell.

The Biden administration in September and October imposed more sanctions on the country as the crackdown increased the number of deaths, including children. Among those targeted for sanctions are the Morality Police, its senior leaders, and many other Iranian officials in charge of the country’s prisons, security forces, and armed forces, and the United States against protesters. He said he was responsible for alleged human rights violations.

The moral police have eased enforcement of the hijab law and other laws regulating women’s public dress and behavior since the protests began, Iranians and analysts say. However, there was no official announcement that the police had disbanded, other than Mr. Montazelli’s comments.

Widespread support for the protests could force the government to abandon enforcing hijab laws in most public places outside of government buildings, official functions and other high-profile situations, analysts said. have a nature.

Support for the hijab law remains strong among male conservatives and clerics, complicating moves by Iran’s hardline leadership to end the law. Raisi himself publicly called for tougher law enforcement just weeks before the protests began, according to a state news agency report.

Iranian media outlets say parliamentarian Ariasgar Anabestani called last week to deny the government benefits to women detained for not wearing headscarves.

Former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad strengthened hijab laws and enforcement during his 2005-2013 term, creating and empowering a modern version of the Moral Police.

Their white van has become a familiar sight of horror across the country. In Tehran, the group conducts checks in congested areas and outside metro stations, leaving her Bozala Detention Center, a drab two-story building facing a pine-lined park frequented by local families and tourists. bring the woman back to

Women not wearing headscarves, even while in a car, were sometimes summoned for questioning by morality police who would text their cell phones after tracking the vehicle’s license plate. .

But their street presence was waning until Raishi took office in 2021 and stepped up his stance on enforcing dress codes, said Sanam, deputy director of Middle East and North Africa programs at Chatham House. Bakir says. Think tank based in London. So removing coercion may be an option even conservatives can embrace.

“It’s probably the easiest change and lowest achievement the Islamic Republic can make,” she said. “I read this as symbolic and not enough to rebuild bridges or appease protesters.

—Benoit Faucon contributed to this article.

Please contact David S. Cloud (david.cloud@wsj.com).

Fix and Amplify
Iran’s Prosecutor General is Mohammad Jafar Montazeri. An earlier version of this article misspelled his last name as Montezari. (Corrected December 4)