Iran’s regime has been increasing its crackdowns on civil liberties over the past few months, specifically targeting women, but now the suppression is set to get even more intense with the regime announcing new ways to deal with what it believes to be “unchaste” and “improper” behaviour.
The Iranian regime’s Chief of Police Hossein Ashtari announced the “Observer One” plan on July 18, which targets women who refuse to don the veil in their cars, and said that 150,000 women had come to the police pledging not to repeat their “crime” after receiving a text message. He boasted that there are 32 regime organizations charged with carrying out social suppression.
State-run websites reported that morality patrol divisions were launched in Khorasan Razavi Province, northeastern Iran, to increase the crackdown on women.
Gholami, head of provincial affairs of the morality and vice patrols headquarters in Khorasan Razavi, said on June 24: “In the formation of the morality patrol divisions, the province will be divided into 60 regions, 50 per cent of these areas will be in the centre of the province. So far, 12 governorates have begun their work with more than 8,000 troops, and by the end of this year, the morality patrol divisions in all cities of the province.”
He said all executive agencies are required to activate the council this year.
While Isfahan Friday Prayer Imam Yusef Tabatabai Nejad said that the Basij should be helping in the sexist patrols against the “abnormality” of “improper veiling”. It was announced last month that an IRGC commander in the northern province of Gilan had launched a 2,000 strong Basij group to counter “improper hijab”.
On a related note, Iran’s regime announced on July 4 that it would be launching social media channels for Iranians to report each other’s “immoral” conduct to the Guidance Prosecutor, submitting photos and videos as evidence. This includes non-observance of the hijab, drinking alcohol, posting “immoral” content to social media, and holding mixed-gender parties” among other things.
This came shortly after a video of a teenage girl being violently arrested by security forces, after being caught playing with water pistols with her friends, went viral triggering discussions on social media. The officers were not even suspended. Instead, the department thanked them and gave them bonuses.
It seems that the Iranian people are no interested in reporting each other to the police for immoral behaviour and are instead focused on making sure the world knows the cruelty of the regime.