This photograph widely shared on social networks in Iran shows police in Tehran on April 16, 2024 preparing for a “morality patrol” to enforce the wearing of hijab. While Iran’s so-called “morality police” have kept a low profile since the death of Mahsa Amini in September 2022, Iranians say the new patrols are using the same tactics and equipment. © .
Iran’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, has made pointed remarks about hijab in two recent speeches. On April 3, he said: “Hijab is a Sharia-based obligation that must not be abrogated […] Hijab is also a legal obligation, and everyone must respect the law.” A week later, on April 10, he repeated in another speech: “We do not want to impose religion on anyone, but we will fight non-conformism”.
These speeches were apparently the cue for Ahmad-Reza Radan, the Islamic Republic’s national police chief. A former military officer known for years for his brutal imposition of hijab rules, Radan announced in a press release on April 11 that police would crack down on women without a hijab. “Women must wear a hijab as it should be worn, otherwise the police will confront them according to the hijab law,” he said, adding that the crackdown would begin April 13. His office issued a statement on April 14 saying that hijab patrols had started nationwide.
Starting April 15, amateur images and firsthand accounts began emerging from Tehran and other cities showing violent arrests of women by male and female police officers, including the use of tasers. Women also spoke of sexual harassment during the arrests.
On April 15, journalist Dina Ghalibaf tweeted that she had been arrested that day by a morality patrol at the Sadeghiyeh metro station in Tehran, and that the officers had tasered her and sexually harassed her before taking her into detention. She was released but rearrested at her home on April 16 after reporting the incident on X. (Women arrested during the “Woman, Life, Freedom” protests frequently cited sexual abuse by the officers arresting them.)
FRANCE24
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