Politics Iran: action by the morality police triggers outrage

A video on social media is causing anger and outrage in Iran. It shows how the morality police drag the underage Nafas H. extremely roughly into a police car on the street in the capital Tehran and take her away.

The 14-year-old and her friend of the same age, who was also arrested, were not wearing headscarves.

In the Islamic Republic, the headscarf is required by law, but the sometimes violent action taken by the morality police against violators is a controversial issue. "How long will it take you to realize that this policy of the Islamic dress code has failed and will only lead to more discontent among the population," wrote Asar Mansuri, the leader of the reform party Ettehad Mellat, on the X platform with a view to the country's leadership.

On social media, the video even overshadowed the news regarding the threat of war and confrontation with arch-enemy Israel. Many users wrote that the Islamic system should be ashamed of itself for treating a child in this way. "You have no courage to attack Israel, but you do have courage to attack a young girl," was one comment on X.

President should rather protect girls in his own country

The new President Massud Peseschkian was also called to account. During the election campaign, he had criticized the checks carried out by the moral guardians and promised to stop them immediately. Instead of leading the country into war "because of an Arab" - meaning Hamas foreign leader Ismail Haniya, who was deliberately killed in Iran last week, for which Tehran has announced retaliation against Israel - the president should protect young girls in his own country, it was widely reported.

The incident took place last month. However, the video, which was recorded by traffic police cameras, only went viral on Wednesday night. The girl's mother now wants to sue the vice squad. Her daughter was injured by the vice squad and had to be treated in hospital. "She is still a child, what is this brutality for," said the mother, according to the news portal Tejarat News.

Since the women's movement in September 2022, the Islamic system and its moral guardians have taken a stricter course to control Islamic dress codes. Women without headscarves are initially warned. If they fail to comply with the warnings, they are arrested and taken to the police station.

The protests were triggered by the death of the young Iranian Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini. She was arrested by the morality police because a few strands of hair were visible under her headscarf. She died in police custody.