Iran’s “morality police” are back on the streets, with a vengeance.

The official reappearance of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s (IRI) deeply hated hijab-enforcement cops coincides with a new bill enshrining and extending laws which enforce harsher punishments for women who don’t cover up “properly.”  

A government crackdown is in progress at universities in anticipation of protests on the anniversary of the beating death of Mahsa “Jina” Amini by the “morality police.” This state murder sparked several months of the “Women, Life, Freedom” uprising beginning on September 16, 2022. This uprising reverberated around the world.

The “Hijab and Chastity Law” is 69 articles long and imposes a sentence of five to ten years prison or fines of up to 36 million tomans ($750) on women who do not comply with its extremely repressive, patriarchal dress code.

Celebrities also face additional fines of 10 percent of their wealth, exclusion from employment or professional activities (for a period of time to be specified by the courts), and bans on international travel and social media activities.

The law states, "Anyone who insults the principle of hijab in virtual or real spaces, promotes nudity, indecency, no hijab, or improper clothing, or engages in any behavior that is typically seen as promoting such acts” may also be subject to fines, bans on international travel and social media.¹ This could include social media users, reporters and press organizations as well as individuals.

Regime spokesmen are openly discussing both repression and propaganda measures to crush the expected upsurge around the anniversary. Mostafa Rostami, an official representing Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in universities across Iran, recently stated, “The enemy has not given up. They’ve said that universities are the first place where new riots should begin…. They will be completely defeated if they can’t do something on the anniversary of last year’s riots.”

Typical of oppressive regimes, they label all justified rebellions as “riots” to paint them as criminal and not political actions.

Brigadier General Yadollah Javani, chief of the political bureau of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), stated: “All their evil plans will fail if we can be present in universities carrying out vindication jihad….” Javani said.² This “vindictive jihad” means brutal repression by the regime: openly vengeful, hybrid warfare against women in all spheres of life to force them to comply to their oppressed, subordinate status in society.

One tactic of repression aimed at students is the planned enrollment of large numbers of pro-Iranian Iraqi military forces in selective Iranian universities, as well as Iranian paramilitary forces and university security cops patrolling campuses on motorbikes. They threaten to harass and beat female students without “proper” hijab that covers everything except their faces and hands. This mandatory head and body covering, which turns women into a blob of often black cloth, erases their individuality and even their humanity.

More than 1,000 protesting students have been suspended or academically banned from various universities in Iran since last September. Some have been added to the swollen ranks of political prisoners.

A student activist said, “Their assumption was that by mass arrest and suspension, they could break the spirit of the movement, but they fail to realize that ‘the university is a smoldering fire beneath the ashes.’”³

What will it take to overturn the compulsory hijab?

Author and long time courageous political prisoner Narges Mohammadi wrote on July 22:

If the function of mandatory hijab for the government was to extend “control” and “oppression” while pushing women backward, removing “mandatory hijab” is a step towards realizing “women's rights” and breaking the power of “suppression” and “authoritarianism” of the despotic religious government…. The reality is that “mandatory hijab” is not solely a “women's issue”; it is a matter for the entire society, a matter of “freedom” and liberation from despotism, a matter of “justice” and liberation from oppression and injustice, a matter of achieving “peace,” “democracy,” and “human rights,” and liberating society from “violence” and “discrimination.” Therefore, no one with any morals, thoughts, or beliefs can be indifferent….

Women’s oppression and the compulsory hijab are foundational elements and glue for the Islamic Republic’s whole religious fundamentalist project, and the regime faces great necessity to maintain it. 

The struggle of women in Iran against this misogynist theocracy, and especially last year’s fierce Women, Life, Freedom movement, has been a key driver for real change and a serious challenge to the regime itself.  Chants and slogans went from women/life/freedom to “death to the dictator”, including calling out top ruling figures and the regime. While some have deemed the uprising a “revolution”—which is not yet the case—an intense struggle is taking place between different class and political forces inside and outside Iran as to what the future of Iran should be, and which opposition force will shape it. This fight over the direction of Iranian society is reflected among the diverse forces taking up the anniversary, and in the politics among the political prisoners, their families and their supporters. 

While we call on justice loving people everywhere to take up the challenge and make the anniversary of the uprising a key nodal point for internationalist support for the brave rebels of Iran, there is continued importance to do so with the political demands of the IEC, which proceed from the interests of humanity and not various rival governments. There are already calls for protests, art installations, performances, film showings, church vigils and teach-ins in mid-September around the anniversary date in the U.S., Europe, Canada and in Iran. Regardless of anyone’s intentions, any calls for the U.S., other imperialists, or the UN to “do more” or intervene are doing the people of Iran and the political prisoners a disservice, with terrible ramifications for the future of Iran and beyond.

The website of the IEC provides important political resource and guidance on HOW to support these protests with its unique and delineating Emergency Appeal, with its prominent signatories from 50 countries. 

The truthful viewpoint to infuse and inject upcoming Jina uprising anniversary events needs to proceed from the IEC’s Emergency Appeal that states:

The governments of the U.S. and Iran act from their national interests. And, in this instance, we the people of the U.S. and Iran, along with the people of the world, have OUR shared interests, as part of getting to a better world: to unite to defend the political prisoners of Iran. In the U.S., we have a special responsibility to unite very broadly against this vile repression by the IRI, and to actively oppose any war moves by the U.S. government that would bring even more unbearable suffering to the people of Iran.

We demand of the Islamic Republic of Iran: FREE ALL POLITICAL PRISONERS NOW!

We say to the U.S. government: NO THREATS OR WAR MOVES AGAINST IRAN, LIFT U.S. SANCTIONS!