Following months of protests, Iran regime scraps morality police

Subject :International relations

Context:

Iran has scrapped its morality police after more than two months of protests triggered by the death of MahsaAmini following her arrest for allegedly violating the country’s strict female dress code.

Background of the issue:

In mid-September, Iran’s so-called morality police arrested 22-year-old JinaMahsaAminiin Tehran for wearing what they deemed inappropriate clothing.
They then took her to a police station, where she slipped into a coma. Three days later, she died in hospital.
Amini’s death sparked widespread anger, leading to anti-government rallies and protests against the mandatory rule of wearing Hijab.

What is the morality police of Iran:

Gasht-e-Ershad, which translates as guidance patrols, is widely known as the morality police.
It is a unit of Iran’s police force established under former hardline president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
It is supervised by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. However, the elected government has a say in their activities through the Interior Ministry.
Both men and women officials are part of the morality police.
The first organized morality police in post-revolution Iranwas a paramilitary volunteer militia called “Basij,” which was formed to encourage volunteers to participate in the Iran-Iraq war (1980-1988).

What are the functions of morality police:

Not only the enforcement of hijab, but the implementation of other rules on public appearance and conduct are the responsibility of the morality police
In 2010, for instance, Iran’s Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance issued a template for suitable haircuts for men in order to halt Western influence on culture.
The morality police were tasked with enforcement at salons.

How the Gasht-e Ershad Works:

The Gasht-e Ershad patrols usually use a van with both a male and a chador-clad female crew.
Their job is to stand and observe people in busy public places like shopping centers and subway stations, after which they detain women for, among other dress code “violations,” not wearing hijabs in a manner that they perceive to be “proper.”
What is proper and what isn’t often depends on the patrol agents on the scene. It could be anything ranging from too short a hijab to too much makeup

What is the history of Hijab in Iran:

During the reign of Reza Shah Pahlavi in 1936, the hijab was actually banned in an effort to modernize the country.Thepolice would then remove the hijab from the heads of women seen wearing it in public.
Wearing the hijab became mandatory in Iran in 1983.
A force was constituted to enforce the rules on morality and the public appearance of women only in the 1990s.
This was created after the war broke out with Saddam Hussein’s Iraq and the regime felt the need to centralize its power and underline an Iranian national identity.