Has Khamenei’s regime really disbanded the morality police, as reported by the AFP on Sunday?
The decision, if true, would be represent a very big surprise.
Because it means, in a way, a “condemnation” by the regime of the behavior of its thugs and its killers! As if Comrade Brezhnev, at the time of the “Socialist Bloc” had admitted that his “KGB” had made a mistake!!
And most importantly, because imposing the veil on women (“the merciless repression of women”) is a “basic common denominator” among all advocates of political Islam, whether Shiites or Sunnis! In other words, hostility to women is more important in the ideologies of fundamentalists, Sunnis or Shias, than hostility to Israel.
Plus, if Khamenei abandons him, it would be a “very big concession,” reminiscent of the words of the late Shah who told the Iranians, “I have understood you”.. shortly before his fall!
In any case, at the publication of the news confirming the “dissolution” of the morality police, first by the AFP, striking comments were made by more than one source and in more than one Middle Eastern capital, warning that there was a “misunderstanding” or even a “maneuver” from the regime to relieve the pressure of the street protests.
I tend to believe the following tweets by Arash Azizi:
A leaked document, in Persian, had revealed that regime circles did debate the Hijab issue, last winter, before the death of Mahsa Amini. Among three possible options, including abolition of repressive laws, an attitude of laissez faire, or repression, the regime had concluded that more repression was required.
To finish, it would be absurd to imagine that Ali khamenei agreeing to deprive his appointed heir, his own son Mojtaba, of a major tool of power in what could be a very near future.
Disbanding Morality police in Saudi Arabia, a few years back, was a signal of a tremendous change! The desire for change is totally lacking in the House of the Guide!