As uncertain reports emerge of the abolition of the morality police and the potential repeal or amendment of Iran’s infamous headscarf law, the country braces itself for three days of nationwide strike action, reports Iran International.
The attorney general Jafar Montazeri on Saturday announced the abolition of the morality police, and a high-level meeting of parliament and the judiciary to discuss the hijab law, saying they would report back within a fortnight.
However, he also added that the judiciary would still enforce restrictions on “social behaviour,” according to the New York Times.
And there has been no official confirmation from the Interior Ministry of the closure of the morality police, and no mention of it after a meeting of senior officials including the President Ebrahim Raisi in which lawmaker Nezamoddin Mousavi told semi-official news agency ISNA that the government was “paying attention to the people’s real demands”, reports the Guardian.
Strikes have started in Tehran and the cities of Arak, Kerman, Shiraz and Kazron (Fars province), Ilam, Kermanshah, Paveh (Kermanshah), Isfahan and Yazdanshahr (Isfahan), Dashtiari (Sistan and Baluchistan), Sanandaj, Saqqez, Kamiyaran and Qorveh (Kurdistan), Urmia and Bukan (West Azerbaijan) and Bojnord (North Khorasan) as of Monday, 5 December, according to reports received by Iran International.
Iran International also reported having seen video evidence of closed shops in Tehran and quoted the Organisation Council of Oil Contractual Workers’ Protests as saying that five hundred contractors have downed tools at the Mahshahr Petrochemical Tanks and Terminal Company. Statements have been issued by Tehran University Faculty of Economics and Isfahan University of Medical Sciences that they will hold the three day strike, and artists and athletes, including famous football stars and musicians have publicly announced their intention not to be active over the next three days.
