Was the Iranian morality police really abolished?

What has the "dissolution" of the morality police changed for Iranian women? The answer is: nothing. Even after the announcement to abolish the entity was made by Iran's attorney general Mohammad Jafar Montazeri and apparently confirmed by a morality police spokesman, the law requiring the use of hijabs is still in effect and arrests and sanctions for non-compliance continue to occur.

Several questions have arisen and are spreading around the world: has this repressive body really been eliminated? Was this a symbolic gesture by the ayatollah regime to placate the protests and international controversy while nothing actually changes in the country? Have they simply changed the name of the morality police so that its agents can continue to carry out their work? Was it just fake news spread from Tehran?

"Nothing is 'suppressed' here"

In reality, the answers to these questions don't matter as long as the unjust treatment of Iranians continues. There are those who claim that everything is a hoax and that the morality police are still active, such as Richard Goldberg at The New York Post or Iranian journalist Masih Alinejad, as well as those who believe the entity has truly been dissolved, like the New York Times. Both sides face the evidence that women without hijabs continue to be persecuted and punished. As Jason Rezaizan points out in the Washington Post: "Even if the morality police stop patrolling the streets, that alone would have no bearing on the hijab laws that govern women’s dress. Plenty of other agencies exist that could enforce hijab if ordered to do so."

For the WP columnist, "Nothing is getting 'abolished' here. Should Iran’s supreme leader one day come out and say women can dress however they like, that will be abolition (and even that would fall short of protesters’ demands of an end to the regime)." Therefore, whether or not the morality police is dissolved is not important. Moreover, the whole story has been a smokescreen for the regime to hide much more serious news such as the three-day retail strike or the mass trials of protesters that are resulting in a very high number of death sentences.

"Newer methods" to promote hijab

For Goldberg, the key to the information coming from the highest levels of the ayatollah regime lies precisely in the calls to strike. In hopes of suppressing this type of information, which could encourage Iranians to join the revolts, "state media ran a series of quotes from Iran’s chief prosecutor, which sent mixed signals about whether the mullahs would continue cracking down on women who do not wear a hijab according to the regime’s religious specifications."

Following Montazeri's statements, the NYT confirmed the disbanding of the morality police with quotes from another senior regime official. Ali Khan Mohammadi, spokesman for the committee overseeing the enforcement of moral values, noted that, "the work of the morality and social security police, who were operating under the security forces and by order of the judiciary and the prosecution, has ended for now." From this point on, the government will determine whether the controversial body will take another form or disappear. He further stressed that there were "newer, more updated and detailed methods" to promote hijab and morality. He did not mention the potential abolition of the laws, which date back to 1983.

In addition, the attorney general noted that "both the parliament and the judiciary are working [on the issue]" of whether or not to change laws that obliges women to cover their heads, according to Al Arabiya News.