Iran suspends morality police amid massive protests
The operations of Iran's "morality police" have effectively been suspended after months of massive anti-government protests over the death of a young woman in its custody, Bloomberg and BBC reported quoting the country's attorney general.
Officially called the Guidance Patrol, the police unit would conduct regular patrols mostly telling women on the streets to fix their headscarves or taking them to so-called "re-education" centres if deemed required. However, the vans used in the patrols have not been seen around Tehran or other cities recently, reports Al Jazeera.
"The Guidance Patrol has nothing to do with the judiciary; it was suspended by the same institution that formed it in the past," the semi-official Iranian Labour News Agency reported, citing Chief Public Prosecutor Mohammad Jafar Montazeri. "Of course, the judiciary continues to monitor behaviour in the community," he said on Saturday.
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The comments fall short of an official dissolution of the unit and the Iranian state media said Montazeri was not responsible for overseeing the force, Reuters reported. He also did not clarify whether there would be a permanent end to the force. Furthermore, the dress regulations remain intact.
And yet, Iranian authorities have recently signalled they may revise the ways in which the mandatory "values-based dress rules" are implemented without specifying – apparently acknowledging that the death of Mahsa Amini, arrested for "improper attire," could have been averted or at least better handled.
The custodial death has sparked the biggest protests against Iran's theocratic leadership since they came to power in 1979. Protesters would go on a three-day strike from today, with a focus on the day President Ebrahim Raisi is due to address students in Tehran.
The authorities are under increasing pressure to amend its policing practices amid uproar both at home and abroad for heavy handed treatment of the protests that have targeted the morality police, strict dress codes and, many a time, the entire regime. Last month, the United Nations said it would investigate Iran for human rights violations and called on the Islamic Republic to immediately end its targeting of demonstrators.
In a statement published in the moderate Shargh newspaper on Saturday, Montazeri said that the judiciary was already working on a draft proposal for amendments to how authorities enforce laws "pertaining to chastity and hijab," referring to the Arabic word used to describe religious modesty codes.
"Following recent events, the relevant bodies are looking for a prudent solution," he said, adding that Iran's parliament and the Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution plan to reach a decision on how to go forward within 15 days.
Protesters to keep up pressure
Sensing a potentially eye-wash move, protesters have decided to maintain their challenge to Iran's clerical rulers and have called for a three-day economic strike and a rally to Tehran's Azadi (Freedom) Square on Wednesday, according to individual posts shared on Twitter by accounts unverified by Reuters.
President Ebrahim Raisi is due to address students in Tehran on the same day to mark Student Day in Iran.
Similar calls for strike action and mass mobilisation have in past weeks resulted in an escalation in the unrest which has swept the country.
On 13 September, Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish-Iranian woman, was arrested by one of the morality patrols after leaving a metro station in central Tehran. She fell into a coma shortly after being taken to the unit's headquarters in the city, and died days later.
According to rights groups, more than 400 people have been killed by security forces in the protests, including scores of children. The United Nations said last month that more than 14,000 people have so far been arrested for taking part and many stand accused of serious offenses that carry the death penalty.
