Has Iran abolished its morality police? A lot of people have been confused over whether Iran has abolished its morality police. Has it? Well, the short answer is no. Since September, the force has been far less visible on the streets after becoming a lightning rod for popular anger — anger directed at them after its members detained 22-year-old Mahsa Amini for allegedly not adhering to Iran’s dress code for women. Her subsequent death while in their custody is what has led to the last three months of protests. The reporting on this one has admittedly been a bit fuzzy. A number of news outlets seized on comments by Iran’s prosecutor general. He was quoted on Saturday as saying that the morality police had been “shut down”. That, in turn, was perhaps understandably taken to mean that the force had been abolished. And what’s more, the authorities were considering scrapping mandatory hijab laws, too. But, as our Iran correspondent Maziar Motamedi explains, the comments made by the prosecutor general have not been confirmed by the police, nor did he mention whether the shutdown would be indefinite. Since then, there have been more protests, and on Thursday Iran carried out the first execution linked to the demonstrations. ‘Executed’ on camera A video of the last moments of 23-year-old Ammar Mufleh’s life has outraged Palestinians. The sequence shows him being shot and killed by an Israeli soldier at point-blank range. Palestinians have called the killing an execution, while Israeli police said the soldier was defending himself. |
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