ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Iranian police dismissed and arrested two of its officers over a video showing a number of plainclothes morality police officers violently arresting a young girl who allegedly removed her hijab, a headscarf worn by some Muslim women, in public.
The 23-second video of the incident was recorded in a park in Tehran on June 22. It was first published by Masih Alinejad, a US-based Iranian women’s rights activist and journalist.
The video went viral on Iranian social media networks, managing to reach the floor of Iranian parliament in two days, where 30 parliamentarians calling on the Minister of Interior to answer for the violent behavior of his officers.
The video shows around a half a dozen plainclothes officers trying to arrest a young girl with one of the officers forcefully pushing her into a police car.
The officer grabs the girl by her blouse and throws her into the car. He appears to punch her at least twice after she is bundled into the vehicle.
The chief of Tehran’s police said on Monday that his officers responded to a call from members of the public on Saturday afternoon about a group of young men and women ‘breaking the norms’ - including girls taking their hijabs off.
“Initially they were requested to respect the norms, to which they responded with foul language. Two of them even attacked the police and beat them up,” claimed chief of Tehran police Hossein Rahimi. “In the end … three men and two women were detained for this incident and they are still in police detention.”
Iran’s powerful morality police have carte blanche to deal with those who do not observe the Islamic norms as defined by the Shiite establishment in Tehran, including the hijab. However, there is a growing resistive movement in Iran to defy these norms and document subsequent repression.
Alinejad, who first published the video online, is the founder of My Stealthy Freedom, an online movement encouraging Iranian women and girls to film and publish online the abuses committed by the morality police.
Questions on the excessive force used by the officers have been tabled for the Ministry of Interior, Parvaneh Salahshouri a member of parliament from Tehran said on Monday.
“The fact some think that because they have been given the power of warning they are in charge and can treat those who are powerless in any way they want is totally unacceptable,” she added.
Iranians and non-Iranians reacted strongly to the video of the incident, with some calling on officials to focus on economic hardship rather than on a girl uncovering her head. “You’re not allowed to be a human in Iran.This group of girls were playing water guns and enjoying themselves in a Tehranpars park area of Tehran,” Alinejad wrote on Facebook on June 23.
“Look how savagely they’re being attacked and dragged by security forces for having fun. The girls were aged between 16 and 18.”
“A lot of men to bully a few girls. That is shameful. What are these big tough men so afraid of. Prayers for all the girls,” one Facebook user commented under the post.
“Thank goodness for the increasing availability of smart phones. More people can see more of what is happening and obtain some understanding,” another user of the social media site remarked.
Iranian officials are anxious about internal dissent in Iran in the face of foreign military and economic pressure on the country.
“This kind of behavior causes unrest in the country. Unfortunately in recent weeks we have been witnessing a charged social atmosphere which impacts the trust of the public. This is while our country currently requires unity and solidarity,” said Salahshouri.
President Hassan Rouhani appeared to allude to the arrest in a meeting with Tehran health officials on Monday, warning of the dangers of stringent law enforcement in civilian lives.
“We should not interfere too much in the private life of people…too many warnings make people frustrated,” Rouhani said in apparent reference to the Saturday arrest.
