Amid conflict with Israel, Iran cracks down on internal dissent

THE same day Iran launched its first ever direct attack on Israel it embarked on confrontation at home, ordering police in several cities to arrest women accused of flouting its strict Islamic dress code.

Iranian authorities insist their Nour (Light) campaign targets businesses and individuals who defy the hijab law, in response to demands from devout citizens, angry at the growing number of unveiled women in public.

But activists and some politicians say the campaign appears aimed not only at enforcing mandatory hijab-wearing, but also at discouraging any wider dissent at a vulnerable moment for the clerical rulers.

Under Iran’s sharia, or Islamic law, women are obliged to cover their hair and wear long, loose-fitting clothes. Offenders face public rebuke, fines or arrest. The laws have become a political flashpoint since protests over the death of a young woman, Mahsa Amini, 22, in the custody of the “morality police” in 2022 spiralled into the worst political turmoil since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

In a show of civil disobedience, unveiled women have frequently appeared in public since her death. Security forces violently put down the subsequent revolt, which called for the government’s downfall.

As Iran’s drone and missile assault unfolded on April 13, Tehran Police chief Abbasali Mohammadian announced the new campaign on state TV. “Starting today, police in Tehran and other cities will carry out measures against those who violate the hijab law,” he said, while hundreds of police swept the streets of the capital and other cities. Social media users posted pictures of a heavy morality police presence in Tehran and videos of police violently arresting women they alleged were improperly dressed.

Morality police vans had largely vanished from the streets since last year. The campaign rapidly drew public expressions of unease. Concerned at what could be a deepening rift between the establishment and society at large, some politicians have criticised the intensified crackdown.

“Right at a time when national solidarity is more crucial than ever, the same ugly scenes (witnessed during the protests) are intensifying with more violence against Iranian women and girls! What kind of policy is this?” reformist politician Azar Mansouri posted on social media platform X.

Former Labour minister Ali Rabeie posted on his X account: “When Iranian people feel good and proud about confronting Israel, suddenly a group (of decision makers) push society towards confrontation with the establishment?”

Some others suspect the campaign had a political motive.

A human rights activist in Tehran said the move was aimed at “injecting fear into society to prevent any antiwar protests and quell domestic dissent when the rulers are at war with Israel”.

The prospect of a war with Israel, after a series of tit-for-tat retaliation between the arch foes, has alarmed many ordinary Iranians already facing economic misery and tightening of social and political controls after the nationwide unrest in 2022-23.

A former moderate government official said “it is part of the clerical rulers’ strategy to consolidate their grip on power when the country faces an external threat from its arch foe Israel”.

A former Iranian lawmaker, said “in the past days, we have witnessed a crackdown on any sign of dissent”. Journalists, lawyers, rights advocates and students have been arrested or summoned in the past days, opposition news websites reported.