Tehran turns clock back on hijab rules, continues to ban reformists from participating in elections

By John Solomou
Nicosia [Cyprus], July 18 : Hard-line clerics ruling Iran have recently decided to reactivate the so-called “morality police” enforcing the strict hijab rules. The morality police had suspended its activities for about 10 months following the widespread protests over the death of Mahsa Amini, a young woman who died while in police custody for wearing her hijab improperly.
Meanwhile, many reformist politicians are pondering whether to submit their candidacy in next February's elections, since it is almost certain that the Guardian Council will disqualify their candidacies.
The death of 21-year-old Amini last September sparked massive protests almost in all major cities and towns in Iran that went on for months, while thousands of women refused to wear the compulsory hijab.
In the past, several Iranian women who had been arrested by the morality police reported horrific experiences including torture, sexual abuse, rape and beatings.
The protests which resulted in the death of about 500 protesters, represented the biggest challenge to the Iranian theocracy and forced the regime to withdraw the “morality police” from the streets.
Many people hoped that the hated morality police enforcing the strict hijab rules was disbanded.
However, these hopes were dashed on Sunday, when Saeid Montazeralmahdi, a police spokesman, stated that the morality police will resume their duties “notifying and then detaining women not wearing hijab in public. Police would initially issue warnings to non-compliant women and refer those who persist in breaking the law to the judicial system.”
He added that police patrols were now operating on foot and in several vehicles to arrest people whose headscarves are misplaced or whose behaviour is deemed inappropriate in the Islamic Republic. Enforcement, he admitted, has been lax due to ongoing protests.
What is worse is that from now on violations of the mandatory hijab law will be treated by many judges as criminal offences. Each case is different based on what the judge declares as the punishment.  In most cases, the penalty is jail for up to six months, which may be converted into a monetary penalty.
In other cases, the penalty imposed is a number of lashes, while a court has sentenced one woman to the ritual washing of corpses in a cemetery for a month, and another woman to hundreds of hours of cleaning government buildings.
A new development causing concern is that in recent months, the regime started implementing facial recognition technology on public transport and has shut down shopping malls, cafes and restaurants that admitted women without hijab. Furthermore, the police exert pressure on taxi drivers not to accept women who removed their headscarves.
As elections in Iran are scheduled to take place next February, conservatives have already started campaigning, while there is no sign of election-related activities among the reformists. The reason for this is that reformists and moderates fear that the hardliner Guardian Council, which determines who should run for office, will most probably reject their candidacies. 
In the 2020 and 2021 elections, the Guardian Council did not allow any well-known reformist figure run for office, while it approved the candidacy of most hardliners. The result was less than half the eligible voters bothered to cast their vote.  Some reformists are thinking about calling the people to boycott the elections. 
Political analyst Gholamali Rajaee said that, although no decision on boycotting the elections was taken, reformists might come to the conclusion that their candidates will not be allowed by the Guardian Council to run for the election. "When they do not have anyone to elect, naturally, they conclude that their participation will be useless."
The Guardian Council is the constitutional body that has the power to veto the electoral candidates. It consists of twelve members who hold office for six years. Six of its members are Islamic Jurists appointed by the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. The other six members are lawyers who are experts in different areas of law and elected by the Majles (the Iranian Parliament) from a list of Muslim lawyers recommended by the Head of the Judiciary.
Another important function of the Guardian Council is that it reviews all the bills in the Parliament regarding their compliance with Islamic ordinances.
It should be noted that Iran is facing huge economic difficulties due to the US embargo and that the average monthly salary of an Iranian is between USD 150 and 200. Clerics keep asking the people to be patient and tolerate the economic hardships, but at the same time, some Ayatollahs (high-ranking Shia clerics) line their pockets with money, take huge areas of land and forests and enjoy immunity.
This situation makes many people angry and some journalists and whistle-blowers, reveal such acts of corruption, knowing that the regime may throw them to jail.
A case that came recently to light by investigative journalist Mojtaba Pourmohsen involved Ayatollah Ahmad Alamolhoda -  President Raisi’s father-in-law- who has been pocketing a huge monthly salary amounting to about USD 200,000 from the Goharshad Endowment.
Another glaring case involves Ayatollah Kazem Nourmodi, Khamenei’s representative in the Golestan province, who together with other members of his family, owns the largest wood businesses in the region, earning hundreds of thousands of dollars every month.
There are many similar cases where high-standing clerics and their relatives exploit Iran’s resources paying a tiny fraction of their worth.
In a recent article on this subject, hardliner activist and politician Masih Mohajeri wrote: “Those who claim to have established justice in the Islamic Republic system should address these inequalities by sideling those close to power who seize public assets and consider themselves righteous and superior to others. Do not assume that the patience of the people is endless. Beware of the day when the army of the hungry rises against you."