Iran’s authorities maintain their iron fist against demonstrators who take to the streets to protest the death of young Mahsa Amini while making confusing statements about the future of the Morality Police.
Iran’s Prosecutor General Mohamad Jafar Montazeri said Sunday during a meeting in the city of Qom, one of the holiest cities in the country, that the Morality Police did not report directly to the Iranian Judiciary and had been «dismantled» by «the same people who created it.»
His ambiguous statements were spread by social networks and by several Western media, which considered this mechanism «abolished», while Iranian media, such as Al Alam public television, affirmed that the reading made by the West had nothing to do with the words pronounced by the prosecutor.
«The media were selling it as if it was a victory (achieved by the protests) and this is no concession. Nor are the Iranian citizens seeing it that way,» explained Daniel Bashandeh, a political analyst specializing in Iran, in statements to Europa Press.
In this sense, Bashandeh stressed that the Morality Police, whose task is to «pursue and enforce dress codes», is «within the internal Iranian police», so the term «abolish», which is used for institutions, would not be appropriate either.
«One of the problems in understanding this is that when the attorney general says he abolishes it, he does not have the power to do so (because) it is a governmental power,» said Bashandeh, who added that «it is complicated» to know who has authority in this matter because «there is no legal certainty» in the country.
In addition, Bashandeh made it clear that the regime does not have «a homogeneous discourse or a discursive line» to face the protests. «There does not seem to be a strategy beyond using repression against the protesters,» he said.
«They have no control of the times. There is a crisis of communication around the measures and, above all, there are several interlocutors talking who contradict each other,» added the analyst.
«MORE MODERN METHODS»
In contrast to these statements, the reality is very different in Iran. A spokesman for the Iranian government and also spokesman for the committee overseeing the implementation of moral values, Ali Khan Mohamadi, declared that Tehran is preparing «more modern methods», referring to surveillance technology, to strengthen the implementation of the law on the compulsory wearing of the hijab.
In fact, Bashandeh stressed that «the latest pronouncements by parliamentary forces» show that these policies will be tightened. «A spokesman for the cultural commission in Parliament also said that whoever opposed the hijab would be excluded from society,» he said.
The law forcing women to cover their hair in public in Iran has been in place since the 1979 Revolution and was pushed by the late supreme leader Ruhollah Khomeini. «No one wants to go against his word,» Bashandeh says of a regulation found in the Penal Code.
«It is not only a legal issue, but a symbolic and political one. The symbols of the Islamic Republic are being destroyed (in the context of the protests),» he said, adding that «the more the regime hardens its policy, the more distancing there will be with the population».
EXECUTIONS AGAINST DEMONSTRATORS While the Iranian regime tries to «sell» to the international community that «the problem is over», the executions against demonstrators who have been taking to the streets since September in different parts of the country to protest against the repression and the death of the young Mahsa Amini continue.
Mohsen Shekari, a 23-year-old accused of «intentionally» injuring a Basij paramilitary with a long knife, was the first protester to be hanged on Thursday after a trial in which he had no legal representation, according to his mother, who pleaded for clemency against her son.
«Right now the issue of executions is going to be key to give more reasons for people to demonstrate,» Bashandeh has indicated, adding that social networks help a lot to know what is happening.
On the role of the Basijis, Bashandeh pointed out that «they are the weakest link» in the Islamic Republic of Iran, since «they are volunteers, they are poorly paid and they are the first ones who have to show their faces», so «people identify them and put a face to them».
«There have been Basijis who have died (…) They have asked for firearms and Khamenei himself (current Iranian supreme leader) has supported them», explained the analyst, stressing that «they are the first shield» of the regime, so that «if they fall» it would mean that «the first line of defense» of the regime would collapse.
STRIKES AND MORE PROTESTS The situation in the country is «serious», as assured by a sub-commander of the Basij forces during a meeting with several members of the paramilitary group that was published in several Iranian media after a ‘hack’ by Black Reward to the Fars news agency.
Hence, there is «a battle for the narrative.» «And it is clear that the regime’s does not hold up,» stressed Bashandeh, who also explained that the protest movement is beginning to be «more transversal», with very powerful actions such as the gesture of cutting one’s hair, songs in Farsi with the slogan ‘Woman, Life and Freedom’ or removing the turban from clergymen.
In addition, the demonstrators in Iran have begun to carry out other types of political acts of protest, such as taking to the streets or going to public institutions without a veil, in the case of women, or the burning of Khomeini’s former residence in the town of Khomein.
The protests have now evolved into a strike in the commerce sector called by social and political organizations, so the economic factor has come into play and could be «a problem for the government». Thus, Bashandeh has given the example of the general strike faced by the Shah of Iran, Mohamed Reza Pahleví.
«Iran is the greatest exponent of political Islam in the world and that in the name of Islam it is doing what it is doing has no justification whatsoever for the population. And besides, the population has a very high indifference to religion, especially the younger generations,» he said.
The security forces’ crackdown on demonstrations has killed more than 440 people, including dozens of children, according to human rights groups. In addition, at least 18,000 people are reported to have been arrested in connection with the protests.
