IRAN: Iran's feared morals police have launched a crackdown on "social corruption" such as women flouting Islamic dress codes, newspapers reported yesterday. Analysts say the move may reflect a changing political climate.
"A serious fight has started to tackle the spread of social corruption in society, especially the improper dress code," Tehran's prosecutor, Mr Saeed Mortazavi, was quoted by Seda-ye Edalat newspaper as saying.
Enforcement of strict moral codes governing women's dress, Western music and mingling of the sexes has become more lax since President Mohammad Khatami's election in 1997 on a platform of social and political reform.
Emboldened young women have steadily tested the barriers of permissible attire, wearing gradually more colourful and revealing coats and scarves and more obvious make-up.
Many young couples in the capital even hold hands in public, in defiance of Islamic rules that prohibit physical contact between unrelated members of the opposite sex.
Religious hardliners accuse Mr Khatami of encouraging "immoral behaviour". Islamic conservatives, who swept aside reformists in February parliamentary election that Mr Khatami's allies said were a sham, have said they do not intend to roll back social freedoms.
But analysts said the conservatives must perform a delicate balancing act between upsetting their loyal supporters and provoking unrest by taking a tough line on social offences.
"This \ is a display of their power," said one political analyst who declined to be named. "The conservatives have to satisfy the people who elected them."
Tehran residents have noted an upsurge in arrests for "immoral behaviour" in recent weeks.
Islamic volunteers and morals police have stepped up raids on house parties where young people meet to drink alcohol and dance to Western music - both illegal since the 1979 Islamic revolution.
And along Tehran's Jordan Avenue - a popular place for young Iranians to cruise in their cars at night - plain-clothes security men have been stopping cars and arresting occupants for a variety of offences.
"My car was confiscated for three months because they found illegal music cassettes and my girlfriend was in the car," said Arshia, a 32-year-old architect.