On 2013's Iranian Mother's Day, the patrols rewarded women with flowers for wearing chador (the preferred hijab style).[9]
According to Iran's Interior Minister, in a three-month period in 2014, 220,000 women were taken to police stations and signed statements in which they promised to wear hijabs. A further 19,000 were given hair-covering notices, and 9,000 were detained.[10] In 2014, the police additionally gave warnings and guidance to 3.6 million other Iranians who failed to follow the Islamic dress code.[11][12][13]
In 2015, in an eight-month period police in Tehran stopped 40,000 women driving in Tehran for not obeying Islamic rules of proper dress, and impounded the cars of most of them, generally for a week.[10] In 2016, Tehran used 7,000 undercover Guidance Patrol officers to catch violators of the Islamic dress code.[5]
A major controversy concerning the Guidance Patrol was its arrest and alleged killing of Mahsa Amini. On September 13, 2022, the Guidance Patrol arrested Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian woman, for allegedly wearing her hijab improperly, in a manner that allowed some of her hair to be visible under her hijab.[14][15] She died in custody three days later. The official cause of death was heart failure,[16] but bruises on her legs and face suggested to many that she had been beaten, despite police denials. Multiple medical officials and detainees that witnessed her arrest claim that Guidance Patrol officials tortured her in the back of a van before arriving at the station. Her detention and subsequent death inspired a wave of protests in Iran, including at Tehran University and at Kasra Hospital, where she died.[17]
Amini's death sparked major protests, "unlike any the country had seen before",[18] the "biggest challenge" to the government,[19] with an unknown organization starting riots around the country, leaving 10,000s arrested and over 500 killed. (Including many Guidance Patrol officers killed and tortured) [20] During the against the hijab requirements and the Iranian regime in general in late 2022, enforcement of compulsory hijab was relaxed, and there was even an erroneous report that it would be disbanded.[c]
As of September 2023, a morality crackdown is in process.
The list of punishments for women who disobey the dress code keeps intensifying. Hefty fines. Banking restrictions. Business closures. Jail time. Forced labor. Travel bans. Being diagnosed as mentally ill.[23]
In mid-July 2023, after months of a large fraction of younger Iranian women ignoring compulsory hijab,[24] and just before the start of the holy month of Muharram, a spokesman for Iranian law enforcement formally announced that the morality police would return to the streets.[25] (On July 15, the day of their returned to the streets, widespread internet outages were observed).[26]
Armita Geravand incident
In October 2023, a 16-year-old Iranian girl, Armita Geravand, fell into a coma and was declared brain dead after an alleged encounter with morality police officers.[27] The incident sparked outrage and criticism from human rights groups and social media users, who compared it to the death of Mahsa Amini in 2022. [28] Iran denied that Geravand was harmed by the officers and said her condition was due to a pre-existing illness.
Activities
Guidance Patrol officers and vehiclesA woman being arrested in Vanak Square by a religious policewoman for wearing an "improper" hijab
Guidance patrols usually consist of a van with a male crew accompanied by chador-clad females who stand at busy public places (e.g., shopping centres, squares, and subway stations), (sometimes assisted by Basij paramilitary),[29] to arrest women not wearing hijabs or not wearing them in accordance with government standards.[30][7][9] According to Amnesty International, "girls as young as seven years old" are forced to wear the hijab.[31] The United Nations Human Rights Office said young Iranian women were violently slapped in the face, beaten with batons, and pushed into police vans.[32] The women are driven to a correctional facility or police station, lectured on how to dress, have their photos taken by the police and personal information recorded, required to destroy any "bad" clothing with scissors, and generally released to relatives the same day though many are detained.[33][9][7][10] Under Article 683 of Iran's Islamic Penal Code, the penalty for a woman not wearing the hijab consists of imprisonment from 10 days to two months, and a fine of 50,000 to 500,000 Iranian rials.[34] Violators may also be lashed, up to 74 times.[31][35]
The Guidance Patrol also monitors immodest attire by men, "Western-style" haircuts worn by men, male-female fraternization, violations of restrictions on the wearing of makeup, and the wearing of bright colours, tight clothing, torn jeans, and short trousers, and trans women.[31][34][36] Violations include too much hair showing from under a headscarf, and a boyfriend and girlfriend taking a walk together.[5]Trans women have been harassed for lack of gender conformity.[37] When an Iranian trans woman was beaten in April 2018, police refused to help her.[38]
Members of the public may turn one another in for perceived violations of the dress code, and traffic cameras are also used to identify violators of the dress code.[31] Iran's CCTV camera systems, including those from cafes, universities, and kindergartens, transmit their footage to the police.[33]
On 27 December 2017, Brigadier General Hossein Rahimi, head of the Greater Tehran police, said: "According to the commander of the NAJA, those who do not observe Islamic values and have negligence in this area will no longer be taken to detention centers, a legal case will not be made for them, and we will not send them to court; rather, education classes to reform their behavior will be offered."[39]
Sanctions
On 22 September 2022, during the Mahsa Amini protests, the United States Department of the Treasury announced sanctions against the Guidance Patrol as well as seven senior leaders of Iran's various security organisations, "for violence against protestors and the death of Mahsa Amini". These include Mohammad Rostami Cheshmeh Gachi, chief of Iran’s Morality Police, Haj Ahmad Mirzaei, head of the Tehran division of the Morality Police, and other Iranian security officials. The sanctions involve blocking any properties or interests in property within the jurisdiction of the U.S., and reporting them to the U.S. Treasury. Penalties would be imposed on any parties that facilitate transactions or services to the sanctioned entities.[40][41][42]
On 26 September 2022, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau stated that the Government of Canada would impose sanctions on the Guidance Patrol, its leadership, and the officials responsible for the death of Mahsa Amini and the crackdown on protestors.[43]
2024 Nour program
In April 2024 two years after Woman Life Freedom uprising the Iranian regime tried after Khamenei ordered tougher violent morality patrol.[44][45][46] The secret classified chastity program law partly implemented will not allow women who don't wear hijab to leave the country.[47][48][49] VOA wrote that before the 2024 Islamic consultative assembly had advertised that people who don't wear hijab vote too but took another "factory reset" approach after the vote.[50] Traffic police app was updated as they started fines for hijab.[51] Fines are withdrawn from the citizens bank accounts.[52][53] The regime closes public caffes and restaurants routinely.[54]
Some officials say that in their view the Guidance Patrol is a Islamic religious police, fulfilling the Islamic obligation to enjoin what is proper and forbid that which is improper, and is desired by the people.[55][56] Others oppose the Guidance Patrol's existence on the grounds that the authorities should respect citizens' freedom and dignity, and enforce Iranian law but not enforce Islam.[4][57] The Guidance Patrol has been called un-Islamic by some, mostly because performing the requisites is haram (forbidden) when it leads to sedition.[56][55] Some argue the notion should be a mutual obligation, allowing people to instruct government officials, but in practise it is strictly limited to one side.[55]
Alleged dissolution
The Attorney General of Iran, Mohammad Jafar Montazeri, stated in Qom on 3 December 2022 that the police Guidance Patrol is not under the supervision of the judiciary system and was in the process of being disbanded.[1] He also said that the hijab law is under review.[58][59][60][61] However, as of 5 December the Iranian government had not made any official confirmation regarding the disbanding of the guidance patrol, and the Iranian state media denied its dissolution. It was reported that enforcement of the mandatory hijab and the guidance patrol had intensified, particularly in religious cities. In response, a three-day general strike was called by protestors, with shopkeepers closing their businesses; several experts and protestors alleged that the news of the dissolution had been announced by the Iranian government to overshadow coverage of the strike.[62][63][64] Iranian state-run Arabic language channel Al Alam News Network denied any dissolution of the Guidance Patrol and added that "the maximum impression that can be taken" from Montazeri's comment is that the morality police and his branch of government, the judiciary, are unrelated.[62] On July 16, 2023 the Iranian law enforcement force announced that patrols by the Morality Police would be relaunched.[2]
Reza Zarei, former chief of Tehran Police in charge of the Guidance Patrol who was found in a house of prostitution, was arrested, and lost his post
Notes
^The Guidance Police does not have an official symbol, however the logo of the Law Enforcement Command is found and widely used on the vice squad vehicles and uniforms.
^in December a statement by the attorney general was interpreted by many Western media outlets to mean that the hijab law was under review and that the Guidance Patrol might be disbanded.[21] This report later was attacked as a "diversion tactic" by the regime.[22]
^Ghaedi, Monir (23 September 2022). "Iran's 'morality police:' What do they enforce?". DW.com. Archived from the original on 4 December 2022. Retrieved 25 September 2022. "Gasht-e-Ershad," which translates as "guidance patrols" and is widely known as the "morality police," is a unit of Iran's police forces tasked with enforcing the laws on Islamic dress code in public.
^ abSharafedin, Bozorgmehr (20 April 2016). "Rouhani clashes with Iranian police over undercover hijab agents". Reuters. Archived from the original on 8 December 2018. Retrieved 12 August 2016. It was rumored to be dissolved in December 2022 after three months of continuous protest over women's rights in Iran, although this false information was spread by the Islamic Regime of Iran as a tactic to stop the uprising.
