Iran's ayatollahs attack 'illegal' morality police after woman's hijab death

Iranian supreme leader, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Photo / AP

Two of Iran's senior ayatollahs have said its feared morality police are illegal and un-Islamic, as violent protests broke out against the Supreme Leader over the death of a woman beaten for not wearing her hijab properly.

The force, known as Gashteh Ershad ("guiding vigilantes"), is "not only an illegal and anti-Islamic body but also illogical", Ayatollah Bayat Zanjani said yesterday.

"No part of our country's laws assigns any mission or responsibility to this vigilante force," he added, accusing it of committing "repression and immoral acts".

Another ayatollah, Mohaqeq Damad, said: "The establishment of the force for the promotion of virtues and prevention of vice is in fact meant to monitor the rulers' actions, not to crack down on the citizens' freedoms and is a deviation from Islamic teachings."

A reformist group said the police force should now be abolished.

"The national tragedy of the horrific death of Mahsa Amini is so great that nothing but the complete scrapping of the Gashte Ershad will do," the Front of Iranian Reformists said yesterday.

The rare criticism comes as Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei made his first public appearance in weeks yesterday amid reports he was "gravely ill". Pictures showed him looking frail and wearing a face mask as he attended a religious ceremony, but he spoke in a steady voice as he told students to be patient when facing hard times.

He did not mention Amini, 22, whose death, apparently at the hands of the morality police, went viral as people tweeted with the hashtag "murder patrol" and shared old videos of Khamenei saying women dressed immodestly should be punished.

Amini fell into a coma and later died after reportedly being arrested in Tehran for wearing her hijab in such a way that she was showing some hair.

Activists say she was beaten and died of a brain haemorrhage, but the police say she suffered a heart attack. Her mother has rejected that as "a lie to cover up killing my innocent angel".

Wearing a headscarf is compulsory; those without one risk being imprisoned for up to two months and fined.

Amini's body was returned to her hometown of Saghez in the restive Kurdish region of Iran, where thousands attended her burial yesterday.

Videos showed thousands of people walking behind her coffin and shouting "death to the dictator" and "shame on our supreme leader" in reference to Khamenei. Pictures of them tearing down posters of Khamenei spread on social media.

Security forces fired tear gas into the protesting crowds. At least one person reportedly suffered head injuries.

A note on Amini's grave read: "You have not died; you live on as a symbol for our nation."

Many Iranians blame Khamenei for her death because the idea of launching the morality force has long been associated with his draconian stance on the role of women in society.

In many of his speeches, the Supreme Leader has praised the vigilante force's actions and encouraged them to "do whatever you see fit to uphold the moral values of our system in respect of women".

"This is the same man who spoke for hours condemning the death of George Floyd in America, but has not said one word about the crime that has happened on his watch," women rights activist Fatemeh Sepehri said.