Iran's 'morality' patrols resume 10 months after mass protests

Almost 10 months after Mahsa Amini died in police custody, triggering weeks of protest across Iran, police vans are again patrolling the streets looking for women failing to wear the hijab "correctly". Now, however, the vans and officers will not bear the name "morality police", and those on patrol will be wearing body cameras.

- Patrick Wintour

The announcement on Sunday followed widespread reports that unmarked vans had been spotted on the streets of cities such as Tehran and Shiraz, stopping people not wearing the hijab. The move has already prompted demonstrations: on Sunday, protesters took to the streets in Rasht after three women were reportedly arrested.

Amini died in September days after she was detained for not wearing the Islamic headscarf properly. Her family said her death was caused by blows to her head during her arrest but the regime claimed she died from an existing neurological disorder.

Her death triggered the largest wave of popular unrest for years, and prompted the Iranian regime to take the morality police vans off the streets, apparently realising their behaviour was antagonising a whole younger generation.