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Iran Hasn't Abolishised Morality Police As Claimed By Global Media Outlets; Viral News Is Misleading
India, 6 Dec 2022 11:52 AM GMT
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We found that the comments made by one official, the attorney general of Iran, Mohamed Jafar Montazeri, were taken out of context to portray them as if the Iranian government had abolished its military police. However, Iranian media and activists say the Morality Police hasn't been banned, and it continues to enforce the law.
As the protests against the Iranian regime over the hijab policy of the government continue, several global media outlets reported that the Iranian morality police had been abolished. Iran's morality police, known as the 'Gasht-e Ershad', or Islamic guidance patrol, was held responsible for allegedly apprehending 22-year-old Mahasa Amini. On September 16 2022, Mahsa Amini died in a hospital in Tehran, Iran, under suspicious circumstances after the morality police of Iran's government had arrested Amini for not wearing the hijab following government standards.
Her death led to widespread protests, with some protestors removing their hijab or publicly cutting their hair as acts of protest to demand the downfall of Iran's clerical rulers.
Claim:
Prominent news media outlets such as the New York Times, AFP, BBC, Al Jazeera, The Hindu, News18, Wall Street Journal, The Indian Express, NDTV, The Times Of India, Hindustan Times, and India Today carried headlines that claimed that Iran had abolished the morality police following months of protests in the country.
Fact Check:
We went through the reports by the BBC and the New York Times, which quoted a senior Iranian official who said that the morality police of Iran had been abolished. The reports noted that Attorney General Mohammad Jafar Montazeri, on being asked about the Guidance Patrol at a conference, said they "have been shut down from where they were set up".
The reports added that it was also unclear whether the official's stance was that of the government. AFP quoted local media sources reiterating that Iran had scrapped its morality police.
We then conducted a keyword search and came across a report by CNN titled, 'Iran says hijab law is under review, as state media dismisses claims morality police has been abolished' published on December 4, 2022.
The CNN report states that a top Iranian official has said that the nation's mandatory hijab law is being reviewed, even as the Iranian state media downplayed the official's claim that Iran's morality police force had been "abolished" during the protests.
"Montazeri was also quoted as saying on Saturday that Iran's morality police had been "abolished," but Iranian state media strongly pushed back on those comments, saying the interior ministry oversees the force, not the judiciary," states the CNN report.
We came across a report by Associated Press published on December 5, 2022, titled, 'Iran morality police status unclear after 'closure' comment'. The AP report noted that Iran's chief prosecutor Mohamed Jafar Montazeri had claimed that Iran's morality police "had been closed".
"Montazeri, the chief prosecutor, provided no further details about the future of the morality police or if its closure was nationwide and permanent. However, he added that Iran's judiciary would "continue to monitor behaviour at the community level," the AP news report read.
The AP report also quoted lawmaker Nezamoddin Mousavi's statement in the Iranian news agency ISNA. He had reportedly called for a "less confrontational approach" from the government toward the protests in Iran.
"Both the administration and parliament insisted that paying attention to the people's demand that is mainly economic is the best way for achieving stability and confronting the riots," Mousavi is quoted as saying.
Reuters also reported that there was no confirmation of the abolishment of the morality police from the Interior Ministry, which holds charge of the morality police. The report also referred to Iranian state media, saying that Mohammad Jafar Montazeri was not responsible for handling the force.
In our Fact Check, we also came across statements by Iranian journalists and activists who denied the claims of the morality police being abolished. A tweet published by journalist Natasha Fateh at CBC News said, "There have been reports that Iran is disbanding its notorious "morality police" that enforces Sharia dress code. THIS IS NOT TRUE according to every reputable expert on Iran."
Samira Mohyeddin, a Canadian journalist, shared a news report published in Etemad Online, which quoted Montazeri. The chief Iranian prosecutor stated that no official in Iran has confirmed the closure of the morality police.
Journalist Nahayat Tizhoosh poked holes in Montazeri's statement, stating that the Iranian lawmaker is not in charge of the morality police.
In a tweet, Tizhoosh noted that Montazeri is not in charge of the regime's morality police and doesn't specify who allegedly shut down the morality police. The Iranian lawmaker also assured continued enforcement of Iran's Islamic sharia laws."
She also raised concerns about why outlets such as the New York Times assumed definitive conclusions from Montazeri's words.
Masih Alinejad, journalist and women's rights activist, asserted that the morality police had not been disbanded and those media outlets had shared the news without proper research. She referred to the claims as "pure propaganda" by the Iranian government.
The Instagram page @middleeastmatters published an explainer on December 5, 2022, with the caption, "The Islamic Republic's mandatory hijab law and other discriminatory regulations are still in place and continue to be enforced."
The page adds that the claims are based on "vague remarks by one official."
Iranian author Marjane Satrapi shared a post on Instagram on December 5, 2022, noting that Iran has not abolished the morality police. In the caption, she states, "It has been evoked, and no decision has been taken. The problem of Iran goes beyond morality police."
Conclusion:
We found that the comments made by one official, the attorney general of Iran, Mohamed Jafar Montazeri, were taken out of context to portray them as if the Iranian government had abolished its military police. However, the media outlets had not attributed any other sources, with journalists saying that the outlets failed to add that Montazeri was not in charge of the police and neither did he specify who shut down the police. Thus, we can conclude that the claims of Iran's morality police shutting down are misleading.
If you have any news that you believe needs to be fact-checked, please email us at factcheck@thelogicalindian.com or WhatsApp at 6364000343.
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