On September 16, Mahsa Amini died in police custody after not wearing her hijab correctly. Iran’s morality police enforces this rule among the women that live there, but the death of Amini has caused in uproar. Protests have taken over the streets but the regime has responded with physical abuse and arrests making matters much more chaotic and deadly. The people want the morality police to be banned in addition to the hijab law as the group often incites violence on the people. The problem though is that even if the morality police was banned, there is a high likelihood that it will just be “rebranded” into a new police force; after all, the police force is how the regime keeps power of the people. The morality police was formerly a division called Sar-allah Patrol. With the political scene in Iran, this police force will never truly be gone.
When it comes to the hijab law, it is under review by Iranian officials currently. However, there is no exact idea of what this means or where in the process the review is meaning that the hijab law is still in place and mandatory for the women in Iran today. What I do find interesting is how this news is being received by the Western world here in the U.S. and in my home country, Canada. It is very difficult for us to grasp the challenges the Iranian people are facing because these freedoms of what to wear, say, and protest is a freedom we all have. It seems unimaginable to think that something as simple as a clothing item must be worn in order to live freely, and yet that is the reality for many.