Iran's morality police to resume headscarf patrols

Iran's morality police are to resume controversial street patrols to enforce the dress code requiring women to cover their hair and wear loose clothing.

It comes 10 months after mass protests erupted in response to the death in custody of Mahsa Amini, who was held for allegedly wearing "improper" hijab.

Women and girls have burnt their headscarves or waved them in the air at the anti-establishment demonstrations.

Many have even stopped covering their hair in public altogether.

Authorities attempted to enforce the dress code using other measures while the morality police patrols were paused, but they have been met with derision on social media and open defiance on the streets.

Under Iranian law, which is based on the country's interpretation of Sharia, women must cover their hair with a hijab (headscarf) and wear long, loose-fitting clothing to disguise their figures.

Since 2006, special police units formally known as the Guidance Patrols (Gasht-e Ershad) have been tasked with enforcing those rules.

Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish woman, was detained by the force in Tehran on 13 September. She died three days later in hospital.

There were reports that officers beat her head with a baton and banged her head against one of their vehicles while taking her to a "re-education centre". However, authorities blamed her death on an underlying health condition - something her family denied.

Many Iranians expressed outrage and protests against the morality police and the wider clerical establishment swept across the country in its wake.

Hundreds of people have been killed and thousands more have been detained in a violent crackdown by security forces, which have portrayed the protests as foreign-instigated "riots". Seven protesters have also been executed following what a UN expert has called "sham trials marred by torture allegations".

As well as demonstrating on the streets, videos and photos posted on social media suggested that an increasing number of women and girls were not covering their hair in public.

Authorities responded by installing surveillance cameras to identify them and closing businesses that turn a blind eye to dress code violations.

Women and men who supported the rules also appeared to take enforcement into their own hands. Earlier this year, a video emerged showing a man throwing a tub of yoghurt in the face of two unveiled women.

On Sunday, police spokesman Saeed Montazerolmahdi confirmed that morality police patrols had resumed across the country to "deal with those who, unfortunately, ignore the consequences of not wearing the proper hijab and insist on disobeying the norms".

"If they disobey the orders of the police force, legal action will be taken, and they will be referred to the judicial system," he added.

However, a university student identified only as Ismaili expressed doubt that the officers would be able to impose the dress code as they had before Mahsa Amini's death.

"The number of people who do not obey is too high now," she told Reuters news agency. "They cannot handle all of us, the last thing they can do is use violence and force against us. They cannot do it."

The reformist newspaper Hammihan warned that the resumption of patrols could "cause chaos" in society, while reformist politician Azar Mansouri said it showed the "gap between the people and the state is widening".

Iranians also took to social media to condemn the move as well as the arrest on Sunday of an actor, Mohammad Sadeqi, after he urged women to defend themselves when accosted by morality police.

Mr Sadeqi claimed in an Instagram post that the state had "declared a war" on them and advised women to carry "machetes" to fight back. "Trust me, people will kill you," he warned officers.

Hours later, the actor partially live-streamed a raid by plainclothes security forces on his home in Tehran during which he was forcefully detained.

The judiciary's Mizan news agency said he was accused of "instigating violence through unconventional and unlawful comments online".

Additional reporting by BBC Monitoring.

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