IRAN’S HEADSCARF PROBLEM

Yet another wave of protests hit the Islamic Republic of Iran recently after the death of a twenty-two-year-old ethnic Kurdish woman, Mahsa Amini. She was arrested by the so-called morality police in Tehran for not wearing a headscarf while visiting her relatives on September 13. At the police station, Amini’s condition worsened and she was taken to hospital, but died three days later, on 16 September.

Initially, the incident sparked protests in Iran's Kurdish cities and then across the country. Thus, in 83 Iranian cities, including Tehran, Mashhad, Rasht, Kerman, Bender Abbas, Qom, Kermanshah, Zenjan, Sari, Rafsanjan and Ghazvin, people protested against the harsh demands regarding wearing headscarves, demanding punishment for the police officers who caused Amini's death. In the early days of the protests, Tehran police released video footage showing the woman in the police precinct where her condition deteriorated sharply. The head of the precinct was later dismissed.

Radicalisation of protests

None of the government measures could stop the protests in most Iranian cities. Conversely, they intensified and escalated into clashes with the authorities. According to observers, the incident involving the arrest and death of a young woman led to the largest mass protests in Iran in a decade. Social, political and economic slogans soon dominated the rhetoric of protesters suggesting problems related to the socio-economic and political situation inside the country.

There is also a struggle ongoing within Iran's ruling elite. For example, the support of the reformist media for action during the initial phase of the unrest clearly indicates that there are elements within the protest movement who are ready to take political advantage of the situation.

Attacks by demonstrators on government buildings, which included one of the offices of Iran’s supreme leader, as well as on police and security forces were another characteristic feature of the protests. Protesters caught and beat the officers of police and other law enforcement agencies.

Also, more than 60 ambulance cars and 25 fire trucks were burnt during the protests, while the dozens of government buildings and public facilities were destroyed, authorities report.

Headscarf as a headache

Wearing of headscarves by Iranian women became a compulsory requirement a few days after the Islamic Revolution in Iran (1979). The decision made by the leader of the revolution, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini led to mass protests in the country taking more than 100,000 women to the streets in Tehran alone. But the authorities did not back down - the Iranian leadership insisted that women cover their heads in public places.

In later years, headscarves for women became a mere formality. Despite being a subject of special control, women generally covered their heads not for religious reasons, but more out of administrative compulsion. In addition, many people in the government thought that it was useless to require women to cover their heads. The wearing of headscarf was more of a formality, especially during the era of reformist presidents.

However, the situation changed in the early 2000s. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a politician known for his close affiliation with the IRGC and elected president in 2005, asked the country's top leadership to tighten the rules on wearing headscarves. Iran soon established a separate institution, the Shariah Guards (Gashte Irshad), also known as the morality police. Among other things, it is responsible for controlling the dress-code among the women. In particular, the institution monitors the conformity of women’s headwear with religious requirements. The guard patrols mainly in parks and squares in Iran's major cities.

In 2013, when Ahmadinejad was replaced by a moderate reformist president, Hassan Rouhani, the authorities' rigid approach to headscarves somewhat softened although conservative politicians and clerics have occasionally raised the issue of monitoring the observance of the Islamic dress code. In 2021, after the election of hardline conservative Ebrahim Raisi as president, the issue of tightening controls came up again. On August 15, 2022, the president signed a new decree on dress code restrictions.

Many observers link the current outbreak of rallies in the country to this decree, although there have been massive women's protests in Iran before, especially in recent years.

Although it was the death of a woman accused of inappropriate dress code that triggered the protest movement in Iran, the scope of action and slogans have significantly expanded, including public and political calls against the political system and the government.

What about Tehran?

Iranian officials claim that same as before the protests are controlled from abroad. For example, Reza Pahlavi, son of the last Shah of Iran, addressed his compatriots from the US to support the protest movement. The statement made by the US Secretary of State to support the Iranians and a telephone conversation between the leader of the Iraqi Kurdish autonomy Massoud Barzani and the family of the late Mahsa Amini demanding that the killers be punished has strengthened the argument of Tehran.

Tehran Governor Mohsen Mansouri believes the instigators of protests in Tehran were "well organised, educated and pre-planned everything".

Mohammad Baghir Ghalibaf, head of the Iranian parliament, said that the enemies were planning to take advantage of the incident same as before to create chaos and confusion in the country. He added, however, that the authorities would conduct a proper investigation into the case and necessary changes would be made in the conduct of the morality police.

President Ebrahim Raisi visited the victims of protests at a hospital in Tehran. During a phone conversation with the family of the dead policeman, he said the government would take strict measures to quell the protests.

The clashes caused arrests and deaths in many cities already. As of September 25, at least 55 Iranian citizens had been killed, according to opposition groups. Meanwhile, some sources claim that the protest have claimed many more lives. Official reports report only 35 deaths and hundreds of detainees.

Overall, the tenth day of protests was a peak of popular unrest. On Friday, September 23, the Iranian authorities organised their own marches in all major cities of the country. They were especially massive in Tehran, Tabriz and other major cities. In this way, the authorities are trying to mobilise their supporters against the protests and to send a message that power is still strong.

From headscarves to a Kurdish uprising

Amini's ethnicity initially sparked outrage in Iranian cities with predominantly Kurdish population. Protests in the provinces of Kurdistan, Kermanshah, Ilam and West Azerbaijan were larger and more organised, characterised by stiff resistance to the authorities.

Slogans against Iran's religious leader, burning posters and calls by political parties led to mass protests like the closure of shops in many cities across the country.

Authorities reported the confiscation of hundreds of weapons and explosive devices in Kurdish areas of Iran. Local security agencies issued statements about the inflow of weapons into the country from abroad and the planned nature of the mass unrest.

Later, on September 26, it was reported that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (Sepah) had shelled the headquarters of a Kurdish party located in the Kurdish Autonomous Region on Iran's border with Iraq. The Sepah statement said that their "target was an anti-Iranian terrorist headquarters". After reports that the cities of Ushnu (bordering Turkey and Iraq and populated mainly by Kurds) and Urmia were controlled by the protesters, it was reported that the Iranian army shelled the suburbs of Ushnu.

According to Iranian media, the military operation was launched in response to the transfer of large quantities of weapons and ammunition into the country through the armed groups of the Kurdistan Democratic Party and the Komala Party known for its active activities against Iran. In the meantime, the Kurdish autonomy leadership was threatened and requested to establish proper control of the border area.

The chief of police of the Kurdistan province made a statement about the discovery and confiscation of explosives and weapons in a secret house, from where riots and conspiracies were allegedly planned. Overall, more than 100 police and security officers were injured in the clashes in the province, according to official sources.

All these facts indicate that the Iranian authorities will continue to release statements about the likelihood of external interference and the involvement of Kurdish groups in the planning of rebellions against the central government of Iran. Accordingly, we can expect security measures to be tightened in Kurdish areas and operations to be conducted against Kurdish armed groups in the near future. This is how Tehran is going to eliminate the increased Kurdish factor and neutralise the protest potential inside the country.

In recent years, Kurdish groups have become a serious threat to Tehran. Using smuggling routes from Iraq and Turkey into Iran, the Kurds are arming, defying the authorities and maintaining close ties with external armed political organisations. The Iranian authorities will therefore try to present the current protests as a Kurdish uprising in order to suppress them and minimise the possible risks associated with the Kurdish question.