October-18-2013
Iran’s police should keep a lower profile in their enforcement of the dress code, President Rohani said last Wednesday.
He did not oppose the dress code, and just called for the police to be more subtle and easy-going.
But a president has no authority over the police in Iran. They come under the direct control of the Supreme Leader.
Rohani’s remarks fulfilled a campaigned promise of more social freedoms.
“If there is a need for a warning on the hejab issue, the police should be the last to give it,” the president told police academy graduates, the Fars news agency reported.
“Our virtuous women should feel safe and relaxed in the presence of the police,” he said.
Rohani said measures other than police action need to be emphasized in trying to bring about compliance with the dress code.
These could start with preaching in “schools, high schools, universities and mosques,” he said. The dress code is already addressed in all those institutions.
Iran’s police force includes a “morality” unit tasked with checking men and women in the streets to ensure their clothing does not violate Islamic values.
Rohani suggested that some social problems stem from the country’s ailing economy. “To establish chastity and morality in our society, we have to uproot poverty and unemployment,” he said.
Last month, Rohani urged the police to enforce the dress code while observing human dignity and avoiding “extreme methods.”
The police routinely stop women on the streets for dress code violations and then take them to a police station where officers check to see if they had been stopped before. Those who have previously been hauled in for a violation are normally fined while the others are allowed to go free with a warning after a few hours.