Lawmaker Says Iranians Still Under Pressure Of 2022 Protests
A member of the Iranian parliament's national security committee acknowledges that the consequences of last year's protests continue to impact the nation's psychology.
A member of the Iranian parliament's national security committee acknowledges that the consequences of last year's protests continue to impact the nation's psychology.
Jalil Rahimi Jahanabadi further warned Iranian officials that exerting pressure on the people under these circumstances would be a mistake. He added that the people are already suffering from immense economic pressures and might not tolerate any further tension.
Recalling his own experience, Jahanabadi shared that during a shopping trip in Tehran, he witnessed a strikingly large number of morality police vans without any official emblem or logo, surrounded by a sizable number of policemen and women. He expressed concern over the overwhelming security presence, causing difficulties for people and vehicles to move around freely.
Jahanabadi stated, "I do not know who has planned and is steering this move, but I can tell you with absolute assurance that no other government in the world will do anything similar, as this will certainly distance the people from the government."
According to the lawmaker, the Police Intelligence Chief mentioned that there are no vehicles marked as morality police in the streets, and the police only maintain an operational presence. However, Jahanabadi expressed his confusion about what "operational presence" actually entails and emphasized that whatever it is, it is a foolish act not in the state's best interest.
He further asserted, "You cannot push people to embrace Islam by using force." Jahanabadi highlighted that the government is aware of how people feel about the morality police, but no one in the government is willing to take responsibility for its presence in the streets.
Last September, the morality police arrested Mahsa Amini, a young Kurdish woman visiting the capital, Hours later she was transferred to hospital with fatal head wounds and died three days later. Her death in custody triggered several months of nationwide protests, which were marked by the brutality of security forces.
Last September Morality police arrested Mahdavi Amini, a young Kurdish woman visiting the capital and later reportedly murdered her at the Morality Police’s detention Center for not wearing the appropriate hijab. Mahsa’s death in custody triggered several months of nationwide protests in Iran that were marked by the brutality of security forces.
A report released by Amnesty International this week raised alarm over the Iranian authorities' intensified crackdown on women and girls defying compulsory hijab.
“The organization has revealed the severe oppression faced by those who choose not to wear headscarves in public, with patrols enforcing the veiling and threatening legal action against those who defy it,” the report said, adding that “The situation has escalated further, with videos circulating on social media showing women being violently assaulted in Tehran and Rasht, while security forces have used teargas against people trying to help women escape arrests.”
Following the reports about the resurgence of the morality police to the streets, Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International’s Secretary General, commented, “Morality policing in Iran is back. The authorities are not fooling anyone by removing the insignia of the ‘morality’ police…, while emboldening the enforcers of the Islamic Republic’s oppression.”
Jahanabadi, who has been a vocal critic among lawmakers, urged the parliament to defend people's privacy and security. He expressed concern that the behavior of the morality police will push people to leave Iran and distance them from religion. Additionally, he opined that the government's crackdown on women who defy compulsory hijab is creating unnecessary tensions, akin to a government trying to overthrow itself.
Meanwhile responding to demands by hardline officials and clerics for harsher punishment for women who defy hijab, reformist cleric Mohammad Taghi Fazel Maybodi said, “A society that is mainly preoccupied with enforcing hijab, rather than tackling social and economic problems is no longer a healthy religious society as Iran’s leaders and hardliners claim.”
Maybodi added: “Those who try to impose the compulsory hijab on women are in fact advocating hypocrisy.” He further warned that the officials should take a closer look at the society to find out what is going on under its skin.
In another development, Yahya Ebrahimi, another Iranian lawmaker also warned the official about the tensions in the Iranian society and said: “The people have lost everything under economic pressures, and cases of crimes, drug abuse and divorce have been on the rise as a result while the situation is getting worse on a daily basis.”
Under such a circumstance, the Iranian government’s sole concern appears to be imposing the compulsory hijab rather than solving the economic and social problems. In its Wednesday’s statement, Amnesty International has called for the abolition of compulsory hijab, the quashing of all convictions and sentences related to defying veiling laws, and the unconditional release of all detainees. Furthermore, the organization urges the international community to take strong action, including legal pathways, to hold Iranian officials accountable for the human rights violations perpetrated against women and girls.
Hardliners on social media support the severe punishments, aiming to deter celebrities and influencers from defying hijab rules.
Hossein-Ali Haji-Deligani, a former high-ranking Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) officer and hardline lawmaker in the parliament's judicial committee, described the bill as considering any action that weakens the family, including nudity, immorality, unveiling, and inappropriate clothing, as a crime. The bill defines "nudity" as appearing in public in clothing considered nude by social norms and will be punishable by a cash fine of 1 to 1.5 billion rials and a prison term of six months to ten years.
Haji-Deligani emphasized that the bill, named "Protection of Family Through Promotion of Hijab and Chastity Culture," includes measures against individuals “connected with foreign governments” and “media outside Iran” promoting nudity, immorality, unveiling, and inappropriate dressing with heavy sentences.
This was a clear reference to regime opponent and critical media, such as Iran International, the BBC Persian Service and others.
Since March, hardliners have attempted to end women's increasing defiance of compulsory hijab and reclaim lost ground, but their efforts have been unsuccessful. The draft bill, jointly prepared by the government and judiciary, faced strong criticism from hardliners for its perceived leniency towards unveiling.
Apart from unveiling, the bill also targets individuals who confront citizens in public, use violence, and threaten unveiled women. Radical clerics have incited citizens to take the law into their own hands as a moral duty.
If approved, adherence to hijab laws would become a criterion for employment in public or private organizations in the future. Clothing that reveals the neck, arms above the wrist, and legs above the ankles will be considered "inappropriate clothing" and will be punishable by a cash fine of up to 500 million rials ($1,000) for the first infringement.
Not covering the head will also be punishable by a cash fine of 240 to 500 million rials for the first instance and up to 1.5 billion rials if repeated more than four times.
The hijab bill also bans taking photos or videos of police while enforcing hijab, but details of proposed punishments have not been made public yet.
Female employees and visitors are still sometimes inspected by female inspectors before entering government buildings to ensure compliance with regulations regarding their tunic, pants, and headscarves or Maghna'e (pullover headscarf with stitched front).
In the first two decades of the Islamic Revolution, inspectors also ensured women's hair did not show from under their headscarf or Maghna'e, and they did not wear makeup, nail polish, or "inappropriate accessories." Clothing generally had to be black, brown, navy, gray, or beige and very loose-fitting.
Over the years, the rules were relatively relaxed depending on which political faction was in power, and some makeup and a little color in clothing became more acceptable.
In July 2022, after weeks of harsh measures on the streets, President Ebrahim Raisi ordered all government entities to strictly implement a “chastity and hijab” law approved by the Supreme Cultural Revolution Council under hardliner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in 2005.
Shortly after, the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in the custody of hijab enforcers fueled protests that spread throughout the country.
Reformist daily Etemad revealed this week that a new round of political struggles over power is underway between Paydari and parliament (Majles) Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf. The rivalry extends beyond the Majles election and partly revolves around competition for Iran's presidency in 2025. The feud is discernible in pro-Ghalibaf daily Sobh-e No and Paydari's mouthpiece Raja News websites.
The newspaper wrote that Ghalibaf and Paydari's media fleets have been exchanging accusations and counteraccusations throughout the month of July. The daily added that the two were on the verge of a coalition ahead of the March 2024 parliamentary elections, but in the absence of Iran's reformists on the scene, they started to compete against each other.
Iran’s reformists who were mostly barred from competing in the 2020 parliamentary elections have not decided to register for the upcoming vote, because they are not sure if conservatives controlling the electoral system will allow them to compete.
Etemad also wrote that the rivalry goes beyond the Majles election and is partly about competition over Iran's presidency in 2025. Raja News accused Sobh-e No of belittling what it called Raisi's achievement in making Iran a member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. Sobh-e No responded by jokingly calling the Paydari a bunch of super-revolutionaries working against Ghalibaf.
While the media battle continues, a conservative commentator and a former editor of the Kayhan, Mohammad Mohajeri told Etemad Online that if the upcoming elections will become a rivalry among conservatives without reformists playing a part in the elections, Paydari is most likely to win the parliament in March.
"We can congratulate Morteza Agha-Tehrani as the next speaker of the Majles even today," he said. Agha-Tehran was previously the leader of the Paydari Party but stepped down due to allegations about having US citizenship or permanent residency and was replaced by former IRGC officer and Interior Minister Sadegh Mahsouli. Nonetheless, many inside and outside the party believe Agha-Tehran has the final say in the party.
Mohajeri further charged that Paydari operates like a business firm and is currently pretending to have the upper hand in Iranian politics in order to get concessions from other conservative groups.
He added that "Paydari candidates had an average of 250,000 votes in the 2020 parliamentary elections. They can win all the 30 seats for Tehran if others do not compete for any reason." Mohajeri further said, "For the same reason Paydari wants a low-turnout election in March."
While the parliament is sending the final months of its four-year term, some observers say it suffers from an unprecedented lack of influence and popularity. Former lawmaker Iraj Nadimi told Rouydad24 that not only the current members of the parliament cannot solve any of the country's problems, but they also keep creating new problems.
Nadimi said the Majles is incapable of supervising the government, and instead it is currently following the government. He added that despite Khamenei's support for the Majles, it is no longer trusted by the people.
"People in the streets, are generally unhappy about the parliament's performance because it cannot solve their problems, because its legislative agenda was not aimed at addressing challenges." Nadimi was likely referring to the economic crisis that has impoverished tens of millions of people and the regime’s unwillingness to reach a nuclear agreement with the West that could lift crippling economic sanctions.
According to a report in Aftab News website, affiliated with reformists, the government borrowed around $12 billion from four major quasi-private banks in three months ending June 21. To ensure availability of funds, it issued directives to these banks to reduce lending to the private sector, causing the loss of 500,000 jobs amid an already serious economic crisis.
The government borrowed more than 4,000 trillion rials, or more than $8 billion just from Bank Mellat, both for its own operating expenses and for money-losing public and semi-public companies run by political appointees and well-connected insiders.
Fully government owned banks issue no figures, and it is not clear how much they have lent to the government, but Aftab News warned that government borrowing is much higher at these banks that are run by appointed officials. The semi-government banks, such as Mellat, are traded on Tehran stock exchange and issue financial reports.
The issue is that these banks faced with balance sheet problems when they lend excessively to the government, are forced to borrow from the Central Bank of Iran (CBI), which in turn has to print more money, fueling inflation. Official numbers indicate that the annual inflation is hovering around 50 percent, but some observers recently claimed that in fact inflation has reached 70 percent.
A market analyst said in April that “The growth rate of the monetary base has reached 38 percent and liquidity has reached 34 percent. This unprecedented gap means that the government is printing more money and making up for the budget deficit by heavily borrowing from banks and forcing them to borrow from the central bank.”
As a result of increasing money supply, the rial has fallen 12-fold in the past 5 years and has halved in value in the past one year. It is now trading around 500,000 to one US dollar.
The former governor of Iran's central bank Abdolnasser Hemmati, who is among the outspoken critics of the current administration, also said in March that “in order to control inflation and rial’s exchange rate, the government should take serious measures to reverse growing liquidity.”
It is not entirely clear why the government is so much short of money when its oil exports have substantially increased since 2021, reaching a reported volume of 1.5 million barrels per day.
The only reasonable explanation is that it offers deep discounts to those who are willing to risk US third-party sanctions, which are mainly Chinese refineries. According to some estimates, Iran is able to offload its crude oil for just $40 a barrel, or half that of current global prices. Moreover, it is not being paid in hard currency, and part of the sales are based on barter for needed imports.
Economists expect the inflation rate to accelerate if no major economic improvement takes place. Currently, Iran’s only hope is for the United States to lift its sanctions or agree for third countries to release around $20 billion of Tehran’s frozen funds. But some say even in that case, the reprieve will be a temporary one, as the current government has proven to haveextremely weak management abilities.