Months after nationwide arrests, Iran's 'morality police' returns with stricter Hijab rules

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

Iran has relaunched patrols by the 'morality police' in a bid to escalate their efforts to enforce the country's mandatory hijab rules, Al Jazeera reported.Saeid Montazeralmahdi, the spokesperson for the Iranian law enforcement force, confirmed on Sunday that police patrols were now operational on foot and with vehicles to crack down on people whose covering is not deemed appropriate in the Islamic Republic. The morality police would «issue warnings and then introduce to the judicial system people who unfortunately insist on their norm-breaking behaviour without concern for the consequences of their covering that is outside of the norm», Al Jazeera quoted Montazeralmahdi as saying citing state media.

He further said that the police expect everyone to conform to accepted dress codes so officers will have more time to deal with «other vital police missions». The officers are tasked with warning women — and sometimes men — to correct the way they are dressed.

This could range from ordering women to adjust headscarves to demanding a change of clothing to something that is more loose-fitting and deemed more appropriate. Women who are found to be in breach of the rules could be arrested and taken to 'so-called' re-education facilities run by the police, Al Jazeera reported.

Notably, this development comes 10 months after Mahsa Amini, 22, died in police custody after being detained over an alleged dress code violation. Her death sparked mass protests across the country that lasted for months in which morality police were largely absent from Iranian streets.