A short video has angered many Iranians. It shows an underage girl being brutally taken away by the morality police. Her crime: she was not wearing a headscarf.
A video on social media is causing anger and outrage in Iran. It shows the morality police dragging the underage Nafas H. into a police car in the open street in the capital Tehran and taking her away in an extremely rough manner. The 14-year-old and her friend of the same age, who was also arrested, were not wearing headscarves.
In the Islamic Republic, the headscarf is required by law, but the sometimes violent action of the morality police against violations is a controversial issue. “How long will it take you to understand that this policy of Islamic dress code has failed and is only leading to more discontent among the population,” wrote Asar Mansuri, the chairwoman of the reform party Ettehad Mellat, on Platform X with a view to the country’s leadership.
On social media, the video even overshadowed the news about the threat of war and confrontation with arch-enemy Israel. The Islamic system should be ashamed of treating a child like this, wrote many users. “You don’t have the courage to attack Israel, but you do have the courage to attack a young girl,” was one comment on X.
President should protect girls in his own country
The new president Massoud Peseschkian was also called to account. During the election campaign, he had criticized the checks carried out by the morality police and promised to stop them immediately. Instead of leading the country into war “because of an Arab” – he means Hamas’ foreign chief Ismail Haniya, who was deliberately killed in Iran last week, for which Tehran has promised retaliation against Israel – the president should protect young girls in his own country, it was widely read.
The incident occurred last month. However, the video, which was recorded by traffic police cameras, only went viral on Wednesday night. The girl’s mother now wants to sue the morality police. Her daughter was injured by the morality police and had to be treated in hospital. “She’s still a child, what’s the point of this brutality,” said the mother, according to the news portal Tejarat News.
Since the women’s movement in September 2022, the Islamic system and its morality police have taken a tougher approach to controlling Islamic dress codes. Women without headscarves are initially warned. If they ignore the warnings, they are arrested and taken to the police station.
The protests were triggered by the death of the young Iranian Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini. She was arrested by the vice squad because a few strands of hair were visible under her headscarf. She died in police custody.
Source: Stern
I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
