Babak Negahdari, the head of the Research Center of the Iranian regime’s Majlis (Parliament), has defended the imposition of a “cash fine” for opponents of mandatory hijab instead of dealing with them through the Morality Police. However, the spokesperson for the regime’s State Security Forces (SSF) says that such an order has not been communicated yet.
Negahdari, in a conversation with the state-run ILNA news agency on March 10, admitted that the Morality Police led to “clashes in the public sphere of society” and added that the images of police officers’ confrontation with women “were being exploited by enemies of the revolution and Iran.”
He stated that the Majlis took action to “eliminate the Morality Police and replace it with cash fines to remove the undesirable images created by the clashes in the public sphere.”
While announcing the removal of the Morality Police, he reported on the presence of unmarked police vans in the streets and their confrontation with women without specifying their authority, which has been widely reported this year.
The clash between the Morality Police and Mahsa Amini in September 2022, resulting in her death in detention, marked the widest protests in the history of the Iranian regime.
Last week, Amir Hossein Bankipour, a member of the parliament, announced in a television program the possibility of implementing the “Hijab and Chastity” bill after the Persian New Year, specifying a fine of 30 million rials (approximately $51) for not observing mandatory hijab.
It is worth mentioning that the minimum wage for a worker in the year 2023 was around $135.
He mentioned that this amount would be deducted from the individual’s account by a “system,” and if there was not enough money, the person would become a “debtor” and, in case of repetition, would have to go to “court.”
His statements were met with widespread reactions.
Meanwhile, Saeed Montazer al-Mahdi, the spokesperson for the SSF, said to reporters about the 30-million-rial fine for not observing mandatory hijab: “Such a matter has not been communicated to us yet.”
In the ongoing conflict between the regime and its supporters with women, a video circulated on social media on Saturday, March 9, showing a Mullah filming a mother holding her child in a medical center in the city of Qom.
The prosecutor of Qom, without providing details, announced the formation of a legal case in this regard and stated that an order has been issued to “identify individuals who transferred the image to the media.”
In this case, Iran’s criminal regime again intends to arrest those who have published these images instead of addressing the case.
