Â鶹´«Ã½

Skip to main content

Iran says hijab law is under review, as state media dismisses claims feared morality police has been abolished

Iranians protest on October 27 in Tehran over the death of Mahsa Amini after she was detained by the morality police. (AP) Iranians protest on October 27 in Tehran over the death of Mahsa Amini after she was detained by the morality police. (AP)
Share

's Attorney General Mohammad Jafar Montazeri said Thursday that Iran's parliament and judiciary are reviewing the country's , according to pro-reform outlet Entekhab.

Montazeri was also quoted as saying Iran's feared morality police had been "abolished" but Iranian state media strongly pushed back on those comments, saying the interior ministry oversees the force, not the judiciary.

CNN is reaching out to the Ministry of Interior for comment.

The wearing of a hijab in public is currently mandatory for women in Iran under strict Islamic law that is enforced by the country's so-called morality police. The laws around the head covering sparked a nationwide protest movement after the death of 22-year-old , who died in police custody after being apprehended by the morality police allegedly for not wearing her hijab properly.

Her death on September 16 touched a nerve in the Islamic Republic, with prominent public figures coming out in support of the movement, including .

The country has been gripped by a wave of mass protests that were first ignited by Amini's death and have since coalesced around a range of grievances with the regime. Authorities have unleashed a deadly crackdown on demonstrators, with reports of forced detentions and physical abuse being used to target the country's Kurdish minority group.

In a , covert testimony revealed sexual violence against protesters, including boys, in Iran's detention centers since the start of the unrest.

On the hijab law, Montazeri said, "We know you feel anguished when you witness [women] without a hijab in cities, do you think the officials are silent about it? As someone who is in the field of this issue, I say that both the parliament and the judiciary are working, for example, just yesterday we had a meeting with the cultural commission of the parliament, and you will see the results within the next week or two," as quoted by ISNA, state-affiliated media.

But there is no evidence of what, if any, changes could be forthcoming to the law, which came into effect after the Islamic Revolution in 1979.

In response to a reporter who asked if the country's morality police was being disbanded, Montazeri was quoted by an Iranian state media outlet as saying, "Morality police have nothing to do with the judiciary. It was abolished from the same place it was launched. Of course, the judiciary will continue to monitor society's behavior."

Arab-language Al-Alam state television claimed foreign media were depicting Montazeri's comments as "a retreat on the part of the Islamic Republic from its stance on hijab and religious morality as a result of the protests", but that all that could be understood from his comments was that the morality police were not directly related to the judiciary.

"But no official of the Islamic Republic of Iran has said that the Guidance Patrol has been shut," Al-Alam said Sunday afternoon.

"Some foreign media have attempted to interpret these words by the prosecutor-general as the Islamic Republic retreating from the issue of Hijab and modesty and claim that it is due to the recent riots."

The remarks were uttered in Qom, considered a holy city in Siha Islam.

The-CNN-Wire
â„¢ & © 2022 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. Â鶹´«Ã½.

CTVNews.ca Top Stories

An organization that ranks the best universities across the globe says its latest report shows a concerning trend that several of Canada’s institutions are slipping down its list.

A British Columbia provincial court judge says a Boston Bar man who shot a teacup Chihuahua named Bear claiming it was menacing his chickens was not justified in killing the animal.

A man who showed up at a rental car company only to be told his online reservation would not be honoured is entitled to compensation, B.C.'s small claims tribunal has ruled.

Emotions boiled over after a judge acquitted two out of three defendants in a manslaughter case, while the third accused has since died.

On September 11, Madeleine Gervais was the victim of a theft in Ottawa's west end. It happened in the Loblaws parking lot in College Square, when she was approached by a man and a woman who insisted to help her load her groceries into her car.

Local Spotlight

Have you ever seen videos of hovercrafts online or on TV and thought, 'Wow, I wish I could ride one of those.' One Alberta man did, and then built his own.

Saskatchewan’s Jessica Campbell has made hockey history, becoming the first ever female assistant coach in the National Hockey League (NHL).

A B.C. couple is getting desperate – and creative – in their search for their missing dog.

Videos of a meteor streaking across the skies of southern Ontario have surfaced and small bits of the outer space rock may have made it to land, one astronomy professor says.

A unique form of clouds made an appearance over the skies of Ottawa on Sunday evening.

Bernie Hicks, known as the ‘Batman of Amherst,’ always wanted to sit in a Batmobile until a kind stranger made it happen.

Bubi’s Awesome Eats, located on University Ave West took to social media to announce the closure on Friday.

Weeneebayko Area Health Authority and the Government of Ontario have awarded a $1.8 billion fixed-price contract to design, build and finance a new Far North hospital.

Manitobans are in cleanup mode after intense winds barreled through southern parts of the province this weekend.