After over two months of intense nationwide protests foll🐓owing 22-year-old Mahsa Amini's custodial death, the Iranian government has now disbanded the country's notorious 'morality police', according to reports.
However, reports state that while the morality police has been disbanded, the mandatory hijab —head covering— rule and other dressing rules will remain in place. Women are required to wear hijab in Iran since the Islamic Revolution of 1979 when the liberal monarchy was overthrown and replaced by ultra-conservative Islamic clergyꦑ.
For over two months, thousands of women have been protesting aꦬcross Iran and defying the Iranian state by walking with without hijab, cutting ♐their hair publicly, and burning hijabs publicly. Several protesters, including children, have been killed in Iranian security personnel's crackdown on protesters.
AFP on Sunday Iran's ISNA nꦦews agency as quoting Iran's Attorney General Mohammad Jafar Montazeri as saying that the morality police has been abolished.
Montazeri's comment came at a religious conference where he responded to a participant who asked "why the morality police were being shut down", reported AFP.
However, Iran International ꦰreported that only the morality police appears to be abolished, not the dress code.
The morality police is formally called the Gasht-e Ershad, literally meaning the guidance patrol. While the public focus remanins largely on women's clothing mandates, the morality police also looks after⛄ men, such as their bears and their public mingling with the opposite gender.
"Men are occasionally stopped — perhaps if their beards are too long, making them resemble jihadists — but usually, it's women who attract the attention of the Gashte Ershad. Too much hair peeking out from under a headscarf, removing the scarf altogether in the car, taking a walk with a boyfriend — all kinds of actions can risk a run-in with the morality police," reported NPR.
Amini, wh🐼ose death sparked nationwide mass protests, was out in a car with her brother when she was detained by the morality police for not covering her hair. She was allegedly beaten in custody. She later died in a hospital, allegedly fr💙om injuries suffered during her custodial beating.
While morality police has reportedly been disbanded, the rules it enforces are still there, according to Iran International.
It reported, "Mohammad Jafar Mo💃ntazeri made the comments in a meeting Saturday, stressing that; however, the judiciary continues to monitor behavioral conduct among the people, a hint that hijab rules are not scrapped and only special patrols in streets are disbanded."
