Iran, two years after a woman’s death

Two years ago today, 22-year-old Mahsa Amini died while in Iranian police custody. The brutal dictatorship is still in control, despite months of unrest that erupted after her death. Amini was traveling to the capital city of Tehran, and the Islamic morality police arrested her after accusing her of “improperly” wearing the hijab, as some of her hair was uncovered. This morality police—known initially as the Islamic Revolution Committee—serves as vice patrols, aiming to maintain what the regime defines as a proper Islamic lifestyle in the streets.

The unjust death of Amini has rightly drawn international condemnation, and it ignited protests from Iranians against the ruthless regime that has controlled the country for more than four decades.

But this is what applying Islam by the letter does to societies. Under the strict application of Islam’s rules, women face miserable conditions and the threat of danger. Now, two years later, Iran’s tyrants are still in control and holding full power.

What happened to Amini continues to happen to other Iranian women.

In July, Iranian police officers opened fire on 31-year-old Arezou Badri—a mother of two—who tried to speed away in her car. She likely knew the officers wanted to seize her car because she had previously violated Iran’s headscarf law while driving. After Badri got shot, the Associated Press reported that she could not walk and was confined to a police hospital bed. When the morality police chase cars with women drivers, the women know that it’s a done deal. If they stop, it could lead to a harsh physical altercation with a police officer.

Last month, a surveillance video published by an Iranian news outlet showed the morality police manhandling a 14-year-old girl in Tehran. The girl’s mother told the Iranian reformist news website Ensaf that her daughter’s head was shoved into an electrical box while a female officer pulled her hair and another officer put a foot on her neck.

With horrific incidents such as these, one must question the true worth and value of women in the eyes of regimes emphatically declaring they’re literally implementing Islamic rules.

Before the 1979 Islamic Revolution, Iranian women were free to choose whether to wear the hijab or not. Some wore it for cultural preferences rather than religious convictions, while many women followed modern European clothing styles. When Iranian leaders attempted to “Westernize” the nation, the wearing of the hijab was actually forbidden, but all that changed when the so-called Islamic Revolution occurred.

But now we are told that Iran has a new “reformist” president. Shouldn’t we all hope for a new era in Iran?

Not too fast.

Yes, indeed, President Masoud Pezeshkian is promoted as a reformist, but that doesn’t mean he can go against the fundamentalist disposition of the regime. We have seen this again and again. While Pezeshkian says he will ease the enforcement of the headscarf law, the strict law is still a reality. To ease the enforcement is mere propaganda. This is evidenced by how Pezeshkian’s predecessor, Shiite conservative Ebrahim Raisi, had actually announced the abolishment of the Muslim morality police two months after the death of Amini. Raisi even declared he was considering changes to mandatory hijab laws.

None of that occurred, and the law is still effective and the morality police are active and flourishing. It was all an attempt to quench international pressure and to restore order in the land with major protests in the streets.

To understand what’s happening in Iran, we should recognize that no matter what Raisi or Pezeshkian say, the matter is totally in the hands of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the highest Shiite Muslim authority in the land. It is his strong fist that smothers Iranians through the morality police.

Ayatollah Khamenei presents himself as the deputy of Allah on earth, and the morality police serve his Islamic agenda while gaining power and authority they never want to relinquish. The morality police have been the government’s intimidating whip to Iranians and the powerful force in shaping the Islamic character of the regime. Many members of these vice patrols are untouchable and their authority is unquestioned. As they serve the ayatollah, they receive power and privileges. The ayatollah needs them and they need him.

As long as Ayatollah Khamenei remains in power with his iron fist of the morality police, all Iranians, especially women, will continue to suffer a gloomy reality. When news outlets tell us Iranian leaders are changing laws to advance women’s rights, let’s all remember it’s part of their religious ideology to conceal the truth and lie to advance their power and tyranny.