Iranian women in front of the Azadi (Freedom) Tower in Tehran

EA correspondent Deepa Parent writes for the Guardian:

The return of Iran’s infamous Gasht-e-Irshad (“morality police”) has been greeted with dismay, but protesters who spoke to the Guardian said they would not be dissuaded from taking to streets again.

A police spokesperson confirmed last week that they had started patrolling the streets to deal with civilians who “ignore the consequences of not wearing the proper hijab and insist on disobeying the norms”.

UPDATES: Iran Regime Says It Is Renewing Patrols by “Morality Police”

The announcement comes just two months ahead of the anniversary of the death in custody last September of Mahsa Amini, 22, who had been detained for allegedly not properly wearing the Islamic headscarf. Her death led to the largest wave of popular unrest in years in Iran.

The Guardian spoke to women who took part in the nationwide protests after Amini’s death, who said they have already seen police harassing girls on the street for not wearing the hijab.

“I felt indifferent to the news that the ‘morality police’ have been reinstated. Western media insists on telling us Iranians that Gasht-e-Irshad was abolished, but I don’t know a single Iranian friend of mine who believed that,” says a 22-year-old from Rasht.

They were never gone and were being deployed as security personnel in universities or as civilians in public places. What the world sees is a tiny glimpse of what’s happening here. Although everything looks normal to the ones who don’t care about us women, if you notice, they are everywhere.

I have worn the headscarf all my life, by choice, and my sister doesn’t. I have always worn it halfway on my head. They killed Mahsa for showing less hair than I do and I know with this official announcement they have now been given a free hand to turn more violent.

In recent months, Iranian women and girls have been posting pictures and videos of themselves on social media defying the mandatory hijab law.

“So many dozens of kids didn’t die [in vain], so a year later we will go back to how we were before September 2022,” says a university student from Tehran.

Whether or not the regime wants to accept, we will hit the streets again and there’s no going back. We are already planning huge protests leading up to the one-year anniversary of Mahsa’s death. There will be more arrests or worse. These are scare tactics and we won’t fall for this.

The morality police harassed me even before the protests began. The security forces shot me with a paint gun on my head. I don’t fear them. If we fear them and back off, what will be left of the sacrifices made by the protesters who lost their lives and their families? I am ready to continue the fight.

Among those killed during protests after Amini’s death was Minoo Majidi, a 62-year-old mother who was shot with 167 pellets. She reportedly said to her family before attending protests in Kermanshah: ‘If I don’t go out and protest, who else will?’ Her daughter Mahsa Piraei said her mother always valued women’s rights and freedom.

By intensifying repressions, arrests and harassment under the pretext of hijab law, the Islamic Republic sends a message to the Iranian people: that we will beat and kill, and if anyone protests, they will be killed too, just like they killed my mother. This circle will continue as [long as] this regime will remain in power, as its foundation is built upon violence and crimes.

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