Mahsa Amini died in the custody of Iran's 'morality police' but public rage is about more than a dress code
Anyone who has had any encounter with this force knows the trembling one feels by the sight of a so-called “Fati Commandos” — a colloquial post-revolution term used by generations of Iranians to refer to the female officers of this sordid establishment. Their long black veil, crude nature, and insolent tone reflect the dramatic gap between millions of ordinary Iranian citizens and an enduring minority that’s clutching to power by any means and measures at hand.
I will never forget the un-matched terror I once felt in my only confrontation with them as a teen. Wearing some light lip gloss and blush, and covered in a bright shawl and a long black manteau, I was walking with a girlfriend in an outdoor sports complex in Tehran. My 16-year-old boyfriend was walking behind us out of fear of potential arrest. In the blink of an eye, two female officers blocked our way to ask us about our relationship.
Many details of that afternoon are a blur. But nearly 20 years later the cold sweat against my shivering body, my girlfriend’s colorless face, and the boy’s anxious voice remain, an ever-present trauma. Far from building pillars of virtue and morality, the “morality police” has over the span of decades done nothing but to harbor hatred, propagate deceit and rouse wide-spread resentment toward Islam. In late August, the government announced its plans toto those breaking “hijab rules” in public — a move that further underscored the duplicity of the system and its never-ending ploys to make money in the name of religion and virtue.
The world needs to understand that there are millions of women in Iran who wholeheartedly believe in the virtue of their hijabs, but detest its mandatory enforcement by the violent and archaic policies of the regime. Equally, there are millions of Iranian women who would lose their scarves in a heartbeat. But more long for freedom of choice.
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