Iran’s morality police are to formally resume patrolling the streets and making sure women follow the law on wearing the hijab in public.
This is according to Saeed Montazerolmahdi, spokesperson for the police authority.
– The police will start car and foot patrols to warn, prosecute and prosecute those who disobey police orders and ignore the consequences of dressing against the norms, he says, according to the state news agency Irna.
Images that have not yet been verified show female police officers scolding and arresting women whose heads are not covered.
The announcement comes exactly ten months after Masha Amini’s death last September, an event that sparked nationwide protests calling for the theocracy that has ruled Iran for four decades to step down.
Mahsa Amini died after being taken away by the morality police, who had objected to the way she wore her headscarf. According to information, she was beaten in custody to the point that she fell into a coma and was taken to hospital, where she later died.
The authorities put down the protests with violence. Over 500 protesters are estimated to have been killed and close to 20,000 arrested.
While the morality police largely retreated, authorities took other measures to enforce the law requiring women to cover their heads and necks in public. Among other things, surveillance cameras have been installed in public places and companies whose staff do not follow the dress code have been closed.
But in Tehran on Sunday moral police could once again be seen patrolling the streets.