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| Hiding: A woman covered her face in Tehran this month. Tall boots have recently been deemed 'un-Islamic.' MORTEZA NIKOUBAZI/REUTERS |
Regime-change fears drive Iran's vice crackdown
In one of the most far-reaching drives since 1979, enforcement has spread beyond criminal offenders to academics and young women whose dress is deemed 'un-Islamic.'
from the December 20, 2007 edition
Page 2 of 3
This past weekend, 24 Internet cafes and coffeehouses were shut down in a sweep of 435 such locales, Reuters reported. Police said they were shut for "using immoral computer games [and] storing obscene photos." A fresh "winter" crackdown was announced last week on un-Islamic dress, which includes women's high boots.
"Their vulnerable spot is these 'Westoxicated' Iranians – the threat is not military attack, but Iranians who 'live differently from us,' who listen to the West," says a veteran analyst who asked not to be named. "Many would follow those [thugs] who are willing to attack."
Iran's new Revolutionary Guard commander, Mohammad Ali Jafari, said in late September that the "main responsibility" of his forces is to counter "internal threats." One vigilante newspaper has railed against the risks of "freedom."
The morality enforcement is a reversal in some ways. For years, conventional wisdom held that conservatives would not risk a serious social crackdown, fearing a popular backlash that could threaten their grip on power. But women and labor activists have been arrested as well as students who have staged protests against the president and government policies in the past year. Three who have been in prison for eight months – their fate sparking a number of demonstrations – are to be released Saturday, acquitted of "insulting religious values" and other charges.
Amnesty International notes that the number of executions has risen from 177 in 2006 to more than 210 so far this year. The UN General Assembly Tuesday approved a draft resolution noting "very serious concern" with human rights violations in Iran, including cases of "torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, including flogging and amputations."
The steps being taken hark back to the earliest years of the revolution, when "securing the system" was deemed the highest obligation, like prayer. Experts note, however, that unlike in both 1979 and 1953, the regime now has many loyal security forces and vigilante groups whose job is to protect the system and ensure, in the words of one Farsi slogan often applied by critics, "victory through creating fear."
"The US planned two wars against us, a hard war and a soft war," says Hojjatoleslam Seyyed Abolhasan Navvab, an influential cleric. "The hard war, it is only intimidation and slogans. But the soft war, it goes more toward reality [by provoking] social, cultural, ethnic, and religious conflicts."
"It is not a flood, but this is a very slight rain that is continuous, and when it washes away it has a ruinous effect," says Mr. Navvab. "If you take it seriously, the level of danger drops. If you don't take it seriously, the danger is there and it is firm."
Noting the months-long arrests of several dual US-Iran citizens earlier this year, Navvab charged that some academics "turned out to be agents of foreigners." The impact of such beliefs has been widely felt.
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