ANALYSIS | What Western media got wrong by claiming Iran abolished its morality police | 24CA News
Over the weekend, news unfold in quite a few respected media retailers that the Islamic Republic of Iran had dismantled its controversial morality police.
Wikipedia even modified its entry, with the edited textual content suggesting the pressure had formally been disbanded.
But these studies all rested on a obscure assertion made by one Iranian official, one who in the identical breath stated his division will not be accountable for the morality police.
Not solely is it unconfirmed that the morality police have been disbanded, however statements by officers since have made it clear that sharia regulation — and its restrictions on girls’s costume — will proceed to be enforced.
The morality police got here below the scrutiny of Western media as of Sept. 16, the day 22-year-old Iranian-Kurdish lady Mahsa Amini died after being detained by officers for not sporting her hijab correctly.
The circumstances of Amini’s demise, and the pressure’s involvement, have since triggered protests in opposition to the police and the Iranian regime which have swept throughout the nation and the world.
What did media retailers declare?
On Sunday, a number of credible media retailers, together with the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, led with the headline that the morality police had formally been abolished.
The New York Times as an illustration, reported it as being an “apparent victory for feminists.”
Who did the declare come from?
The authentic declare got here from a obscure remark made by one regime official — somebody who will not be in control of Iran’s morality police.
At a press convention, Iranian Attorney General Mohammad Jafar Montazeri was requested why the morality police, which in Persian is named Gasht-e-ershad, has not been seen on the streets in current days.
Montazeri stated the next: “The morality police has nothing to do with the judiciary system. The same source that created it in the past — from that same source it has been shut down. Of course, the judiciary system will continue its surveillance of social behaviours across society.”
While studies recommend the morality police will not be seen prominently on the streets, the regime has continued its violent crackdown on Iranian protesters. It has employed a number of army forces, together with members of the nation’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and its plainclothes brokers, to brutally crack down on protesters. According to at least one human rights group, 500 Iranians have been killed, together with a minimum of 60 kids — and greater than 18,000 individuals have been detained.
What does that inform us?
The prime prosecutor’s feedback embrace a number of vital factors the media ought to have considered.
Firstly, the legal professional common admitted the morality police doesn’t fall below the purview of the nation’s judiciary. And he additionally didn’t specify who precisely allegedly shut down the morality police — or when and the way it was shut down. Instead, his feedback have been “vague and non-transparent,” as BBC Persian reported early on.
Notably, Montazeri stated the enforcement of the nation’s Islamic sharia legal guidelines would proceed via “social surveillance” — demonstrating that whether or not the morality police exists or not, Iranian girls will nonetheless be subjected to the identical punitive authorized system dictating the Islamic costume code.
Has the regime made false claims concerning the morality police earlier than?
Yes. Late in 2017, IRGC Brig. Gen. Hossein Rahimi, who additionally heads the Greater Tehran police, claimed that Iranian girls would now not be jailed for not sporting the hijab. Rahimi stated girls would as a substitute obtain classes to “reform their behaviour.”
But in 2018, police in Tehran arrested 29 girls for participating within the “White Wednesdays” marketing campaign, the place girls throughout Iran protested the obligatory hijab by climbing onto telecom packing containers, taking off their headscarves and waving them on a stick.
A variety of these girls and their moms are nonetheless imprisoned.
And whereas the morality police is the arms-length physique that bodily enforces the Islamic costume code, the nation’s strict obligatory hijab regulation — which got here into impact in 1979 — stays in place.
What has the Islamic Republic stated because the press convention?
Iranian state media forcefully pushed again on the highest prosecutor’s feedback, insisting it’s the Ministry of Interior that oversees the morality police — not the judiciary.
Montazeri was additionally quoted in Iranian state media rebuking reporting by the worldwide media, saying that “no official authority in the Islamic Republic of Iran has confirmed the closure of the morality police.”
WATCH | Iran offers protesters the demise penalty:
Three extra anti-government protesters have been sentenced to demise in Iran, bringing the entire to 5. It’s a toll human rights teams concern the regime will now develop to quell the motion.
Why did media retailers mischaracterize this obscure declare?
Iranians on social media shortly expressed their dismay on the approach worldwide media reported the news, many suggesting it stems from an inherent misunderstanding of what the protests in Iran stand for.
“I think it simply underscores that the global community wants a neat resolution to this story and is not realizing that the Iranian people want a full overhaul of the system — not just the morality police,” Gissou Nia, an Iranian-American human rights lawyer on the Atlantic Council informed 24CA News.
And Western establishments, together with the media, have had a poor understanding of the Iranian regime for a very long time, stated Iranian-Canadian human rights activist and lawyer Kaveh Shahrooz.
“Instead of listening to democracy and human rights activists, these institutions mistakenly listened to analysts who told them that Iran’s regime is basically normal and can be trusted,” Shahrooz stated.
“Iran’s regime is not normal; its official statements are often lies designed to mislead the world. Our media should not take them at their word and must exercise extra caution when reporting on Iran.”
Why some Iranians say this can be a diversion
Iran has seen an unprecedented wave of anti-regime protests for nearly three months, starting after Amini’s demise in custody.
This week, protesters organized strikes throughout totally different cities within the nation.
Many activists argued on social media that Montazeri’s feedback have been a type of misinformation and, in reality, a tactic employed by the Iranian regime to cease the continuing protests in Iran.
“International media outlets must learn that when dictatorships like the Islamic Republic are in trouble, they spread propaganda, as the Iranian regime did in 2017 and as they did today,” outstanding Iranian-American activist Masih Alinejad stated on Twitter. “This is their modus operandi.”
