On 16th July, the Iranian government reintroduced mandatory hijab for women with moral police back on the streets. Notably, for months, the moral police were away following the death of Masha Amini in September 2022. Amini was picked for not wearing a hijab and later killed in custody. The authorities announced a new campaign forcing women to wear Islamic headscarves in public following that.
In early 2023, Iranian authorities launched a heavy crackdown on the protesters, virtually ending the protests against the mandatory hijab. Reportedly, 500 protesters were killed, and over 20,000 were detained by the police during the protests.
On Sunday (17th July) evening, following the reports of attempts to arrest the women without the hijab, thousands of protesters gathered in Rasht, northern Iran. According to Iran International, thousands of people were there at the protest after the moral police whisked away three women. The onlookers rescued them, and there were unverified reports of tear gas and gunshots.
Images and reports on social media indicate that a large crowd of people held a protest gathering outside the city hall of Rasht in northern Iran on Sunday evening after security forces tried to arrest three women over hijab.https://t.co/nhbXN4U8nH pic.twitter.com/6Z9r0jxwlF
— Iran International English (@IranIntl_En) July 16, 2023
In December 2022, there were reports of moral police patrolling the streets, but the authorities denied it. There were claims that the moral police was disbanded, but the government denied it amidst the protests.
Police spokesman Gen Saeed Montazerol Mahdi said in a statement that moral police would resume notifying and then detaining women if they were found without hijab in public. Masih Alinejab, one of the most prominent Iranian activists currently living in the United States, shared a video of a woman being threatened and beaten by the female moral police.
This is Iran today and this is how the morality police arrested a teenager for not wearing a hijab. Mahsa Zhina Amini was taken away like this, then killed. Where are those journalists who excitedly reported the cancellation of those morality police? #WomanLifeFreedom pic.twitter.com/xndXlnnkSB
— Masih Alinejad 🏳️ (@AlinejadMasih) July 15, 2023
She wrote, “This is Iran today, and this is how the morality police arrested a teenager for not wearing a hijab. Mahsa Zhina Amini was taken away like this and then killed. Where are those journalists who excitedly reported the cancellation of that morality police?”
Death of Mahsa Amini and anti-hijab protests
Iran saw a wave of protests after a 22-year-old girl named Mahsa Amini died in the custody of Iran’s Morality Police that detained her for improperly donning her headscarf. Several Iranian citizens hit the streets in solidarity with Amini. In support of the victims, a number of women, including schoolgirls, burnt their hijabs, and women everywhere chopped their hair in protest. Protests broke out in hundreds of places around the nation after her death.
