Two Women MPs: People Want Undercover Morality Patrols

Last week, Tehran police opened a controversial new front in their decades-long struggle to enforce Iran’s Islamic dress codes for women.

On Monday, April 18, Tehran Police Commander Hossein Sajedinia announced that police would soon deploy 7,000 undercover agents in Tehran as part of a “moral safety” project that will constitute a dramatic escalation in the so-called Morality Patrols’ efforts to police women with “bad hijab.”

Sajedinia said Iran’s judiciary has provided these agents the authority and the “necessary training” to go onto the streets and monitor women’s public behavior. The agents’ hunting grounds, for the most part, will be highways. They will try to spot women who have taken their headscarves off inside cars, or have otherwise broken hijab laws. They will then inform the police of the car’s license plate number so police can fine the women.

The news has provoked widespread reactions from Iranians online and has even stoked debate among Iranian officials.

President Hassan Rouhani has spoken against the plans. “Human dignity is a gift of God,” he said on April 20. “Our first duty to people is to respect their dignity. People’s dignity comes before religion.”

Iran’s police, however, don’t answer to the president. While Rouhani can try to set the tone for public conversations, all authorities involved in security answer to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who invariably pursues a conservative, ideological agenda.

And Khamenei is far from alone. He enjoys strong support from various conservative groups including the hardline “principlist” faction in Iran’s parliament. Among the principlists are two women MPs, Sakineh Omrani and Laleh Eftekhari, who spoke to IranWire.

Omrani, an MP from Semirom, says this undercover project will safeguard the dignity of women and reduce sexual harassment. “If a woman’s hijab is proper, then nobody would dare to harass her,” she says. “Proper hijab attracts less attention to women and prevents the committing of sin. The project is also a warning to those who want to violate the honor of women by telling them to be careful about how they behave.”

Omrani points out that according to the police commander, undercover agents are not allowed to confront violators themselves and can only report violations. “This project is certain to improve the situation of hijab in the country,” she adds. Omrani says all Islamic laws are designed to benefit women. “If women observe the laws of Islam,” she says, “they will learn how much respect and dignity Islam gives them.”

Omrani believes that the more conservative a woman’s hijab is, the more the society will respect her. “Nobody dares to harass a woman in hijab or look at her in a vile and disgusting way.”

But, I ask her, aren’t undercover morality patrols a violation of people’s privacy? “No,” she says. “In our society, promotion of virtue is valued highly and many people practice it. Undercover patrols are promoters of virtue, but instead of confronting the person directly they inform the police, who put the promotion of virtue into action.”

“People Asked for It”

Laleh Eftekhari, an MP for Tehran, also supports the undercover project. “Many laws for fighting bad hijab have not been enforced,” she says. “I believe this project will succeed because people themselves want it to be enforced. They have rolled up their sleeves and want to stand against bad hijab and promiscuity.”

Eftekhari is echoing comments Police Commander Sajedinia made in response to Rouhani’s criticism. “The undercover nature of this project is what people wanted,” Sajedinia said. “Harassment of women has been a subject that has preoccupied people and they expect the police to address this worry.”

Laleh Eftekhari says the question of bad hijab is one of the biggest worries of the Muslim people of Iran. “Bad hijab helps other sins to be committed,” she says.

Eftekhari says “western networks” have encouraging people to discard Islamic dress, and have succeeded in some cases. In response, she says, “We can use all the potential of our society. We can rely on pious and revolutionary people who do not want a sinful society to fight bad hejab and stop the social harms which result from this sin.”

Eftekhari says undercover patrols will also be effective against those who harass women and says that the project will lead to more tranquility and security in Iran.