Iran’s attorney general announced that the Deputy Police had been dissolved. But what does that really mean?
Iran’s vice squad has been disbanded, according to the attorney general. Their mission was to enforce the Islamic regime’s dress code. She has repeatedly attracted attention with acts of violence and harassment. Iran expert, political and Islamic scholar Mahdi Rezaei-Tazik of the University of Bern weighs in.
What does this resolution mean?
The regime is about to collapse. You want to save time. With this dissolution, the regime wants to give the impression that it will accommodate the protesters, many of whom no longer wear headscarves. Dissolving the vice squad but continuing to torture protesters is also hypocritical.
In addition, this step reduces the protest movement to just the fight for the obligatory use of a headscarf. From the beginning, the demonstrators wanted the dissolution of the Islamic regime and the establishment of a democratic system in which state and religion were separate.
Is it still a partial success right?
Historically, it is not an achievement. Before the Islamic regime took over Iran, women could dress however they wanted. With the abolition of the moral police, what used to be perfectly normal was only theoretically restored. However, it seems unlikely that these freedoms will actually be granted.
Why did the vice police exist?
The Morality Police checks for compliance with the Islamic regime’s dress code. This regards regulations as a central policy cornerstone. In this way, it must also be visually shown to the outside world that Iran is an Islamic state. Abandoning the headscarf calls into question the religious values on which the regime is based.
The mere existence of a deputy brigade shows that the population has not supported the regime’s values for decades. If Iranians supported these regulations, there would be no need for surveillance.
Why is the regime still willing to give up its vice squad?
The Islamic regime is currently in the biggest existential crisis since it emerged. The population wants to overthrow the regime. The regime itself wants to prevent this by all means. If that means sacrificing the vice squad to appease the populace, do it.
Has this development become apparent historically?
For decades, Iranian women have dressed less and less strictly. Black full-length coverings called chadors have increasingly been replaced by a coat and the headscarf is worn more and more loosely. In order not to provoke conflicts, the regime silently accepted this. Now, however, people’s values and ideas about life have deviated so much from those of the regime that protests have become inevitable.
Navigation account 20 minutes Time05.12.2022, 10:14| Act: 12.05.2022, 10:14 am