Since the1979 Iranian Islamic Revolution, Iranian law has required all women in the country to wear a hijab that covers the head and neck and conceals the hair.[6]
OnIranian Mother's Day in 2013, the Guidance Patrol distributed flowers to women wearing thechador, the preferred style of hijab.[9]
In 2014, Iran's Interior Minister reported that approximately 220,000 women were taken to police stations and signed statements promising to comply with hijab requirements for a period of three months. An additional 19,000 women received hair-covering notices, and 9,000 were detained for violations.[10] That same year, the police reportedly issued warnings and guidance to 3.6 million Iranians for failing to observe the Islamic dress code.[11][12][13]
In 2015, during an eight-month period, police inTehran stopped 40,000 individuals for dress code violations while driving; most of their vehicles were impounded, typically for a week.[10]
In 2016, Tehran deployed 7,000undercover Guidance Patrol officers to identify and report violations of the dress code.[5]
On 13 September 2022, the Guidance Patrol arrested Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman, for allegedly wearing her headscarf improperly, in a manner that allowed some of her hair to be visible.[14][15] She died while in custody three days later. The official cause of death washeart failure,[16] however, bruises on her legs and face suggested to many that she had been beaten, despite police denials. Multiple medical officials and detainees who witnessed her arrest claim that Guidance Patrol officials tortured her in the back of a van before arriving at the station. Her detention and subsequent deathinspired a wave of protests in Iran, including atTehran University and Kasra Hospital, which was where she died.[17]
Amini's death sparked majorprotests, "unlike any the country had seen before",[18] the "biggest challenge" to the government,[19] with an unknown organization starting riots around the country, leaving 10,000s arrested and over 500 killed.[20] During the protests against the headscarf requirements and the Iranian government in general in late 2022, enforcement of compulsory headscarf was relaxed, and there was even an erroneous report that it would be disbanded.[c]
The morality police in Iran are responsible for ensuring compliance with the country's compulsory dress code laws.[23] As of September 2023, a morality crackdown is in process.
The list of punishments for women who disobey the dress code keeps intensifying. Hefty fines, banking restrictions, business closures, jail time, forced labour and travel bans. Being diagnosed as mentally ill.[24]
In mid-July 2023, after months of a large fraction of younger women ignoring compulsory headscarf,[25] and just before the start of theholy month of Muharram, a spokesman for Iranian law enforcement formally announced that the morality police would return to the streets.[26] (On 15 July, the day of their return to the streets, widespread internet outages were observed).[27]
In March 2024, a United Nations fact-finding mission concluded that Iran was responsible for the physical violence that led to Mahsa Amini's death in custody. The investigation found that Amini was subjected to severe beatings during her arrest, contradicting Iranian authorities’ persistent denials. The UN report also documented systemic abuses by Iranian security forces during the nationwide protests that followed her death, including arbitrary detentions, torture, and the disproportionate use of force against peaceful demonstrators, particularly women and girls.[1]
In October 2023, a 17-year-old Iranian girl,Armita Geravand, fell into coma and was declared brain dead after an alleged encounter with morality police officers.[28] The incident sparked outrage and criticism from human rights groups and social media users, who compared it to the death of Mahsa Amini in 2022.[29] Iran denied that Geravand was harmed by the officers and said her condition was due to a pre-existing illness.
Guidance patrols usually consist of a van with a male crew accompanied bychador-clad women who stand at busy public places (e.g., shopping centers, squares, and subway stations), (sometimes assisted byBasij paramilitary),[31] to arrest women not wearinghijabs or not wearing them in accordance with government standards.[32][7][9] According toAmnesty International, "girls as young as seven years old" are forced to wear the hijab.[33] TheUnited Nations Human Rights Office said young Iranian women were violently slapped in the face, beaten with batons, and pushed into police vans.[34] The women are driven to a correctional facility or police station, lectured on how to dress, have their photos taken by the police and personal information recorded, are required to destroy any "indecent" clothing with scissors, and generally released to relatives the same day, though many are detained.[35][9][7][10] Under Article 683 ofIran's Islamic Penal Code, the penalty for a woman not wearing the hijab consists of imprisonment from 10 days to two months, and a fine of 50,000 to 500,000Iranian rials (worth approx. $1.20 to $11.90USD in 2024).[36] Violators may also be lashed up to 74 times.[33][37]
The Guidance Patrol also monitors immodest attire by men, "Western-style" haircuts worn by men, male-female fraternization, violations of restrictions on the wearing of makeup, the wearing of bright colours, tight clothing, torn jeans, and short trousers, and oftrans women.[33][36][38] Violations include too much hair showing from under the headscarf, and an unmarried couple taking a walk together.[5] Trans women have been harassed for lack ofgender conformity.[39] When an Iranian trans woman was beaten in April 2018, police refused to help her.[40]
Members of the public may turn one another in for perceived violations of the dress code, and traffic cameras are also used to identify violators of the dress code.[33] Iran'sCCTV camera systems, including those from cafes, universities, and kindergartens, transmit their footage to the police.[35]
On 27 December 2017,Brigadier GeneralHossein Rahimi [fa], head of theGreater Tehran police, said: "According to the commander of theNAJA, those who do not observe Islamic values and have negligence in this area will no longer be taken to detention centers, a legal case will not be made for them, and we will not send them to court; rather, education classes to reform their behavior will be offered."[41]
On 22 September 2022, during theMahsa Amini protests, theUnited States Department of the Treasury announcedsanctions against the Guidance Patrol as well as seven senior leaders of Iran's various security organisations, "for violence against protestors and thedeath of Mahsa Amini". These include Mohammad Rostami Cheshmeh Gachi, chief of Iran's Morality Police, Haj Ahmad Mirzaei, head of the Tehran division of the Morality Police, and other Iranian security officials. The sanctions involve blocking any properties or interests in property within the jurisdiction of the U.S., and reporting them to theU.S. Treasury. Penalties would be imposed on any parties that facilitate transactions or provide services to sanctioned entities.[42][43][44]
On 26 September 2022,Canadian Prime MinisterJustin Trudeau stated that theGovernment of Canada would impose sanctions on the Guidance Patrol, its leadership, and the officials responsible for the death of Mahsa Amini and the crackdown on protesters.[45]
In April 2024, two years after the beginning of theWomen, Life, Freedom movement, the Iranian government ordered more violent morality patrols.[46][47][48] A partially implemented secret and classifiedchastity program law aims to prevent women who do not wear the hijab from leaving the country.[49][50][51]VOA reported that before the 2024 Islamic Consultative Assembly elections, authorities had encouraged non-hijab-wearing individuals to vote, but later adopted a "factory reset" approach after the elections.[52] The police began issuing penalty notices via a mobile app for unveiled women in vehicles,[53] with fines automatically deducted from citizens' bank accounts.[54][55] Additionally, the government has routinely closed public cafes and restaurants.[56]
In June 2024, the police deployed 7,000 troops to the beaches to enforce the hijab.[57] In August 2024, CCTV footage posted online showed police officers severely beating two teenage girls on the street and taking them away.[58]
In August 2024, Minister of Islamic Culture and guidance ordered 1,500 missionary personnel for hijab and chastity to be employed and trained by government called Mujahideen Fatimi.[59][60]
Some officials say that in their view the Guidance Patrol is anIslamic religious police, fulfilling the Islamic obligation to Enjoining good and forbidding wrong, and is desired by the people.[61][62] Others oppose the Guidance Patrol's existence on the grounds that the authorities should respectcitizens' freedom and dignity, and enforce Iranian law but not enforce Islam.[4][63] The Guidance Patrol has been called un-Islamic by some, mostly because performing the requisites isharam (forbidden) when it leads tosedition.[62][61] Some argue the notion should be a mutual obligation, allowing people to instruct government officials, but in practise it is strictly limited to one side.[61]
TheProsecutor-General of Iran,Mohammad Jafar Montazeri, stated inQom on 3 December 2022 that the police Guidance Patrol is not under the supervision ofthe judiciary system and was in the process of being disbanded.[1] He also said that thehijab law is under review.[64][65][66][67] However, as of 5 December the Iranian government had not made any official confirmation regarding the disbanding of the guidance patrol, and the Iranian state media denied its dissolution. It was reported that enforcement of the mandatory hijab and the guidance patrol had intensified, particularly in religious cities. In response, a three-day general strike was called by protestors, with shopkeepers closing their businesses; several experts and protestors alleged that the news of the dissolution had been announced by the Iranian government to overshadow coverage of the strike.[68][69][70] Iranian state-run Arabic language channelAl Alam News Network denied any dissolution of the Guidance Patrol and added that "the maximum impression that can be taken" from Montazeri's comment is that the morality police and his branch of government, the judiciary, are unrelated.[68] On 16 July 2023, the Iranian law enforcement force announced that patrols by the Morality Police would be relaunched.[2]
A report issued by the Independent Fact-Checking Mission to Iran noted that the Morality Police increasingly adopted new technologies to enforce its code. The mobile app "Nazer" allows vetted members of the public to report on uncovered women in vehicles and drones are increasingly used to identify uncovered women. Facial recognition software was installed atTehran's Amirkabir University of Technology to find women not wearing the hijab.[71]
^The Guidance Police does not have an official symbol, however the logo of the Law Enforcement Command is found and widely used on the vice squad vehicles and uniforms.
^In December, a statement by the attorney general was interpreted by many Western media outlets to mean that the hijab law was under review and that the Guidance Patrol might be disbanded.[21] This report later was attacked as a "diversion tactic" by the regime.[22]
^Ghaedi, Monir (23 September 2022)."Iran's 'morality police:' What do they enforce?".DW.com.Archived from the original on 4 December 2022. Retrieved25 September 2022."Gasht-e-Ershad," which translates as "guidance patrols" and is widely known as the "morality police," is a unit of Iran's police forces tasked with enforcing the laws on Islamic dress code in public.
^abSharafedin, Bozorgmehr (20 April 2016)."Rouhani clashes with Iranian police over undercover hijab agents".Reuters.Archived from the original on 8 December 2018. Retrieved12 August 2016. It was rumored to be dissolved in December 2022 after three months of continuousprotest over women's rights in Iran, although this false information was spread by the Islamic Regime of Iran as a tactic to stop the uprising.
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