Iran taking softer line on Islamic codes: Police chief

tehran — Iranian police are taking a softer approach to breaches of Islamic rules, opting for education over punishment, Tehran’s police chief said on Wednesday.

“According to a decision of the commander of the police force, those who do not observe Islamic codes will no longer be taken to detention centres nor judicial files opened on them,” Brigadier General Hossein Rahimi said in a speech in the Iranian capital.

“We offer courses and 7,913 people have been educated in these classes so far,” he said, adding that there were more than 100 counselling centres in Tehran province.

Rahimi, who was appointed in

Those who do not observe Islamic codes will no longer be taken to detention centres nor judicial files opened on them

Brigadier General Hossein Rahimi, of Iran police

August, did not elaborate on which Islamic codes were in question or when the new guidelines were introduced.

It marks a stark shift from his predecessor, General Hossein Sajedinia, who announced in April 2016 that there were 7,000 undercover morality police reporting on things like “bad hijab” — a blanket term usually referring to un-Islamic dress by women.

Figures are rarely given, but Tehran’s traffic police said in late 2015 they had dealt with 40,000 cases of bad hijab in cars, where women often let their headscarves drop around their necks.

These cases generally led to fines and temporary impounding of the vehicle, the spokesman said at the time. Mandatory headscarves have been key symbol of Iran’s Islamic rule since the revolution of 1979, fiercely defended by hardliners. — AFP