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A woman at a protest in Tehran in late September
Photo: Uncredited / dpa
The moral police in Iran was previously mainly responsible for observing the dress code for women - now it is said to have been dissolved.
"The morality police have nothing to do with the judiciary and were closed down by those who set them up in the past," said Attorney General Mohammed-Jafar Montaseri, according to the Isna news agency, on Saturday evening in the central Iranian city of Qom.
The daily newspaper »Shargh« also quoted the Attorney General as saying.
Both media are considered relatively independent and moderate.
So far there has been no confirmation from state or semi-official Iranian agencies.
"The vice squad has been disbanded, but the Justice Department will continue to address this societal challenge," Montaseri said, according to Shargh.
There were no further details about the circumstances and the implementation of the resolution.
According to observers, the dissolution of the vice squad would not mean an end to compulsory headscarves for women, but it would represent an important partial success for the women's movement in Iran.
Regime critics remain skeptical
Critics of the political leadership reacted cautiously to the announcement.
The problem is not the moral police, but the headscarf requirement, an Iranian activist wrote on Twitter, according to the dpa news agency.
"Women must be able to go everywhere without a headscarf," he demanded.
And this is “only the first step”.
The vice police were set up under the ultra-conservative head of state Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and, among other things, monitor compliance with the headscarf requirement.
It was the trigger for the system-critical uprisings in the country that have been going on for more than two months.
In mid-September, the Islamic moral guardians arrested 22-year-old Jina Mahsa Amini.
The Kurd died a few days later in the custody of the vice squad.
Since then, people in Iran have been protesting against the Islamic system and its laws and regulations.
According to these, women must wear a headscarf and a long, loose coat in public to cover their hair and body contours.
This law has been part of the socio-political doctrine of the Islamic system for more than 40 years.
On Friday, Attorney General Montaseri announced that the Iranian parliament and judiciary would review the law obliging women to wear a headscarf.
"Parliament and the judiciary are working" on this issue, he said.
However, he did not provide any information on what could be changed in the law.
Four people executed for alleged spying for Israel
Against the background of the protests, the Islamic Republic accuses the secret services of Israel and Western countries of wanting to provoke a civil war.
According to the state news agency IRNA on Sunday, four people have recently been executed for alleged spying for Israel.
The semi-official news agency Fars also reported.
According to the reports, the four people are said to have been members of a network of the Israeli secret service Mossad.
The four people are also said to have damaged public property and been involved in the kidnapping of civilians, it said.
Irna did not give any further details on the execution of the four people, including where they were arrested or executed and whether the incident was connected to the system-critical protests.
The semi-official Iranian agency Mehr reported on the death sentences on Wednesday.
Three other people were sentenced to prison terms of between five and ten years.
Among other things, they are accused of endangering national security, assisting in kidnappings and illegal possession of weapons.
Human rights activists estimate that around 470 people have been killed since the demonstrations began, including numerous demonstrators, 64 minors and 60 security forces.
Thousands were arrested, including students, journalists, athletes and artists.
kko/dpa/Reuters/AFP
