morality police

morality police, law enforcement body in Iran created in 2005 to enforce regulations on modest dress (ḥijāb) and chaste behavior (ʿifāf). The term “morality police” is informally applied to the body by international commentators, but it is officially called Gasht-e Ershad (Persian: “Guidance Patrol”).

The enforcement of a public moral code in Iran began after the 1979 revolution, when the new Islamic republic sought to assert its ideology and principles in public spaces. The enforcement was initially performed by vigilante groups that were tasked with safeguarding the revolution, such as the Islamic Revolutionary Committees (or Komitehs, an abbreviation of the Persian term Komitehā-ye Enqelāb-e Eslāmī). As the new regime stabilized, it gradually institutionalized its moral code and the mechanisms for enforcing it. However, it did not have a specialized body dedicated to enforcing the moral code for decades. After a period of relative openness under the reform-oriented Pres. Mohammad Khatami (1997–2005), the conservative government of Pres. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (2005–13) in 2005 created the Gasht-e Ershad as a specialized patrol squad within the Law Enforcement Command of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Although the Gasht-e Ershad monitors the behavior of both women and men, it primarily concerns itself with women’s dress. Its most frequent interventions involve the enforcement of ḥijāb, a notion that broadly denotes the covering of a woman’s body with loose-fitting garments and most often refers specifically to the veiling of a woman’s hair. Interventions directed toward men are typically to constrain their interaction with women.

As an instrument of social control, the Gasht-e Ershad has at times intensified its activity during moments of instability. After austerity measures enacted by Pres. Ebrahim Raisi in 2022 induced widespread protests, he ordered strict patrols by the Gasht-e Ershad to help quash the dissent. The order backfired in September 2022 when a young woman, Jina Mahsa Amini, died in Gasht-e Ershad’s custody, prompting broad and sustained protests across Iran for several months. Although the outrage led to the temporary removal of Gasht-e Ershad from the streets, patrols returned in 2023, and it began using face-recognition technology in an attempt to reduce public confrontations.