Return Of Hijab Police Turns Into Debate Among Regime Politicians

Mohammad Javad Vafa'i Sani who was imprisoned for his role in anti-government protests in 2019 was informed on Wednesday that his execution verdict had been finalized, according to the letter sent to the UN official dated July 19.

"We ask that you make an urgent public call for the Iranian authorities to halt Vafa'i Sani's imminent execution sentence," said the document, signed by 83 people including the former head of the International Criminal Court Judge Sang-Hyun Song, more than a dozen current and former UN human rights officials as well as former prosecutors.

Iran's judiciary was not immediately available to comment on the matter. However, his lawyer Babak Paknia said in a tweet that the judiciary had not notified them about the verdict.

A spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk said: "We have received information on this case and are following up on it and gathering additional information."

Iran was rocked by major protests last year sparked by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in September 2022 while in the custody of the country's morality police.

Since then, at least seven people have been executed for verdicts linked to the unrest, which the clerical rulers have accused the country's foes of fomenting.

Turk has been pushing for a trip to the country and a meeting with Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, although there has been little if any indication those efforts are bearing fruit.

Azadeh Samadi and Afsaneh Baygan were claimed to have "mental illness and anti-family personality" according to judges rather than mental health professionals after they were caught defying Iran's tough hijab laws.

Leading psychiatrists have said “the diagnosis of mental disorders falls squarely within the purview of psychiatrists, rather than judges.” They expressed deep concern about the language and rationale employed in the ruling, particularly in the context of diagnosing a condition termed "antisocial personality."

They have deemed the judges' conclusions "unscientific and strange," emphasizing that it is crucial for accurate psychiatric assessments to be conducted by qualified professionals in the field.

The campaign is being led between The Scientific Association of Psychiatrists, The Scientific Association of Psychosomatic Medicine, The Scientific Association of Psychotherapy, and the Psychological Association of Iran which published an open letter addressed to Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, the Chief Justice, voicing their concerns and objections.

The associations underscore the necessity of avoiding the unwarranted labeling of individuals' behaviors with psychiatric diagnostic titles. Such an approach, they argue, “not only lacks scientific validity but also may result in exacerbating the stigma surrounding mental illnesses, leading people to be more reluctant in seeking essential mental health services.”

The two women now face imprisonment, a travel ban, and restrictions on using virtual platforms.

The news was released this week in the latest recent report by Dadgostar, the news agency of US-based Human Rights Activists in Iran (HRANA).

Over the past decade, Iran has witnessed an alarming rate of executions with at least 4,800 individuals put to death by the Islamic Republic. The report highlights the concerning trend of an average of 10 citizens being executed every week since May of the current year alone.

Of the executed individuals, 2,196 faced drug-related charges, raising serious concerns about the use of capital punishment for offenses that do not qualify as the "most serious crimes."

Disturbingly, the report also reveals that 41 "child-criminals" were among those executed, with at least one of them being charged with drug-related offenses.

Human rights organizations have also expressed deep concern over the imminent execution of six Arab prisoners, further emphasizing the need for urgent international attention on Iran's approach to capital punishment.

HRANA, in its report, underscored that Iran, as a member of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, is bound by the principle that the death penalty should only be applied to the "most serious crimes." Any deviation from this principle is considered a violation of the right to life, as stated by international law.

The controversy surfaced when a video began circulating on social media, allegedly showing Reza Seqati engaging in a sexual act with a young man. The identity of the other individual in the video remains undisclosed.

Local media reported on Wednesday that Seqati's dismissal was attributed to "scandals". It was claimed that the decision to remove the director of the ministry's Gilan province branch was carried out under the directive of President Ebrahim Raisi’s culture minister.

The Iranian government has not yet commented and Culture Minister Mohammad Mahdi Esmaili only claimed in a video on Wednesday that he had “fired several ministry managers for their failure to adhere seriously to implementing the hijab law.”

Iran International cannot independently verify the authenticity of the video.

Seqati, who is reported to be married with three daughters, has previously been known as a staunch advocate of mandatory hijab in Gilan. In May, he had announced the launch of a hijab hypermarket in the province and had taken measures to establish a hijab exhibition in Rasht's central exhibition hall, focusing on producing clothing in line with “Iranian-Islamic culture”.

Hardliners have been looking for ways to strengthen the enforcement of hijab after their ‘morality police’ tactic of arresting women for “improper hijab” backfired with the death of Mahsa Amini last September, triggering nationwide popular protests.

Hossein Marashi, who is the Secretary General of the Executives of Construction, the leading centrist group, told a local website on Tuesday, "I have no hope in Iranian politicians. The elites in the society should come forward with determination and make their point, and whatever they need to do. I have hope that the people will change the scene."

This was an unprecedented pessimistic comment by a seasoned pragmatic politician who has always been an optimist. 

Nonetheless, Marashi dismissed the idea of boycotting the upcoming parliamentary elections in March 2024. Some reformist politicians have suggested the idea as a reaction to hardliners barring moderate and reformist candidates from running for office in two previous votes. 

Speaking about Faezeh Hashemi, a political heavyweight and one of the relatively popular politicians of the Executives of Construction Party who has spoken about the need to boycott the elections, Marashi said: "She should have waited for the party's final verdict about taking part in the election."

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Marashi reiterated: "If the people do not come to the scene and do not take the lead in the management of politics, and lash out at politicians, no positive change is likely to occur in their life." 

However, he did not say how people can bring about political change when the slightest gesture of protests or dissent is met with force and arrests.

However, the centrist politician oddly said, "We are waiting to see what way out the reformists will show to end this political impasse,” By putting the onus on those who have been pushed out of office by the hard core of the regime, Marashi added that the Reform Front has a great responsibility in coming up with a solution and we are waiting to see what they are going to do. 

He acknowledged that the reformist faction is currently overwhelmed by despair as a result of the Guardian Council's "arbitrary supervision" which bars many politicians from running for the parliament or the presidency. He argued that any boycott of the elections will play into the hands of those who want to monopolize power.

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At the same time, conservative politician Mohammad Javad Bahonar spoke about the issue from another perspective. He said that as a result of the Guardian Council's selective treatment of election candidates, a majority of the members of parliament are so unprepared that they are not even familiar with their responsibilities as lawmakers. He also charged that many conservative lawmakers do not understand the country's situation. 

However, as Marashi pointed out, "Politics is a battlefield where we should confront institutions that exert influence beyond the scope of their official authority. But political competition is not like going to a party. It is like dealing blows and at the same time being prepared to receive blows." He reiterated that reformists and moderates should be prepared for a fierce competition while everyone should accept that we need to revise the procedures in the interest of Iran's future. 

Meanwhile, Marashi advised that hardliners should note that Iran is a diverse society and not everyone is a regime supporter who accepts its ideology by 100 percent. "This is a diverse society. There are Sunnis, there are those who have distanced themselves from religion and religious government, and there are those who believe in a different ideology. We need to do away with the monopolistic approach of a certain group of regime's supporters."