Assembly of Qom Seminary Instructors Reacts to Return of Morality Police

The Assembly of Instructors of the Qom Seminary has reacted to the return of the Morality Police to the streets and issued a statement in this regard.

Approximately two months remain until the anniversary of Mahsa (Zhina) Amini, who was killed by Morality Police officers, and now the Morality Police have returned to the streets to confront improperly veiled women. The return of the Morality Police has not only provoked reactions from the Iranian people and those abroad, but has also triggered widespread responses from clergy and seminary instructors.

The Assembly of Instructors and Researchers of the Qom Seminary – Reformist Clergy – in reaction to the aforementioned matter, while recalling the killing of Mahsa Amini following her arrest by the Morality Police, issued a sharp statement on Thursday, July 29, addressed to senior officials of the Islamic Republic.

The assembly, while describing the unreasonable and inhumane conduct of law enforcement regarding mandatory hijab enforcement as unlawful and un-Islamic, stated to senior officials of the Islamic Republic: “Was the lesson learned, the costs paid, and the damage to reputation following Mahsa Amini’s killing not sufficient, that now the Morality Police has returned to the streets again and through unlawful and un-Islamic conduct toward some women, continues to pursue this failed policy?”

The statement from this reformist faction assembly also noted: “These days we are witnessing unreasonable and inhumane conduct by law enforcement regarding the phenomenon of improper hijab or poor hijab, which not only has no legal or religious justification, but is considered an affront to Islam and humanity. Can the government enforce hijab through such methods? To what extent can the state, or does it have the right to, punish a woman for improper hijab with sentences that violate human dignity?”

The mentioned assembly, while referring to sentences issued against improperly veiled women, wrote: “Are punishments such as washing corpses, sending to psychiatric centers, closing and sealing shops, denying employment and others compatible with any legal or religious standards?”

The instructors and researchers in the mentioned statement announced that no jurist has declared that a religious ruling can be imposed at any cost, rather the impropriety and wrongness of a woman being arrested by male or female police and being thrown into a van is far more condemned than improper hijab.

While emphasizing that religious matters such as hijab are a matter of advocacy and not coercion, they asked senior officials of the Islamic Republic: “Why do they not show sensitivity toward major vices such as embezzlement, squandering of public resources, usury, misuse of endowments, nepotistic appointments and other economic corruption?”

The Assembly of Instructors and Researchers of the Qom Seminary added: “The fundamental and essential problem of the system is an approach that has led to gross social and economic inequalities, severe poverty, lack of balanced foreign relations with East and West, continuation of sanctions, inflation and the like.”

The intense pressures by system officials have not only failed to prevent non-compliance with mandatory hijab enforcement, but women appear on the streets without mandatory hijab every day and continue their protest in this manner.

It is worth noting that the issuance of this statement is one of the signs of the erosion of system-affiliated elements.