A video showing Iran's morality police violently arresting two teenage girls has once again sparked widespread anger in Iran. The footage surfaced at a time when many Iranians had hoped that the newly installed centrist president, Masoud Pezeshkian, would fulfil his campaign promise to end or at least mitigate the violence perpetrated by the dreaded "Gasht-e-Ershad" patrols against women. But the president has not commented on the video, and his appointment of an ultra-hardline interior minister has dashed hopes of change on Iran’s strict hijab rules.
Two years after the death of Mahsa Amini in the custody of Iran’s morality police ignited the "Woman, Life, Freedom" movement, tensions over the compulsory hijab remain as fierce as ever.
Although Iranian police claimed to have dismantled the morality police in December 2022 after months of protests, the reality on the ground tells a different story. Amateur videos and firsthand accounts by Iranian women indicate that the morality patrols resumed in April 2024 after Iran’s police chief ordered a crackdown on hijab violations. Our Observers say the same draconian regulations are imposed on women, enforced by the same female police officers in black chadors, using the same methods. The only change, our Observers say, is that their white vans no longer bear the inscription "Gasht-e-Ershad".
READ MORE: Violent arrests seen in Iran as 'morality patrols' resume in nationwide crackdown
This brings us to the new video. The video, filmed in Tehran on June 21 but released to the public on August 6, shows two teenage girls, their hair uncovered, walking down a street. Spotting a police van, they attempt to hide behind a utility box, but it's too late.
Two white vans appear. Three female officers clad in black chadors, along with a male officer, leap out of the first van and forcefully arrest the girls, who show no sign of resistance. Two other female officers join the mêlée and help force the two girls into the van.
The altercation, caught on a street surveillance camera, was made public by the family of one of the girls, 14-year-old Nafas Hajisharif, after a court permitted the release of the footage – a rare decision in Iran. On August 6, her family provided the media with photos showing injuries they said she sustained while being beaten by the female officers, including bruising and a cut.
The release of the video has fueled public outrage. One Iranian wrote on X: “Dr Pezeshkian, you said that you will defend people's children like your own children. Now is the time to fulfil your promise! Before you choose a new interior minister, fire the current minister. You do not beat a 14-year-old girl.”
The video has even prompted criticism from some politicians aligned with the new president. Azari Jahromi, a former minister and a close ally of Pezeshkian during his campaign, posted on Telegram: “I have just spoken to two police commanders and they also thought that the treatment of these two girls was a mistake. [...] The police are the key to our security, the ones who must avoid sparking a confrontation between the police and the population.”
Iran's police chief, Gen. Ahmad-Reza Radan, said the officers' actions were "not up to our standards", although he said their forceful response was prompted by insults and physical resistance from the girls.
A hardliner IRGC general as an interior minister
The election of Pezeshkian had raised hopes among some Iranians that he might, as promised during his campaign, put an end to the morality police's actions or at least scale them back. “These [patrols] have only led our society into darkness [...] these methods do not work and I will stop these patrols,” he told an election campaign audience at Tehran University on June 16, 2024. However, those hopes are rapidly diminishing.
While many politicians have publicly urged Pezeshkian to address the incident, the president has remained silent. Moreover, his decision to nominate Gen. Eskandar Momeni, a member of the Revolutionary Guard Corps and a staunch hardliner, as interior minister, has only further eroded these hopes.
Momeni, who has served in multiple leadership roles as the national police chief over the past two decades, has been one of the most vocal supporters of the morality police.
