The "Hama-Mahan" newspaper, published in Tehran and associated with the reformist faction in Iranian politics, reported a wave of arrests of young men for wearing shorts. The article highlights the story of Hossein, a resident of central Tehran, who was violently arrested by morality police officers while riding his bicycle in the city.
"I asked them under what law they were arresting me, but they told me to shut up and keep my head down if I knew what was good for me," the young Iranian told the newspaper's reporter, Elnaz Mohammadi. When Hossein arrived at the police station, he saw a long line of young men in shorts and realized that he had fallen victim to a morality police operation.
Video: A morality police officer beats a woman in Tehran.
Hossein told the newspaper that the men who were arrested were registered and forced to sign a confession to committing a crime before being released to their homes, in contrast to the women he saw at the station who were detained and had to wait for a judge and a criminal conviction. Hossein was informed that it is forbidden to wear shorts that are ten centimeters above the knee and that it is considered antisocial and immoral behavior.
After the newspaper reached out to the police, the Iranian police issued a response stating: "The police command, while calling on everyone to adhere to religious and moral norms, warns that any abnormal action against the values of society, such as those carried out by abnormal individuals, will be dealt with with absolute seriousness and severity."
Social activists, speaking to the newspaper anonymously, claimed that this is an attempt by the Iranian regime to show that it is not only enforcing Sharia law on women, but on men as well. However, the preferential treatment given to men in police stations and within the judicial system indicates that this is merely a deception - the morality police found themselves under heavy criticism last month, after footage of female officers beating a young woman who refused to wear a hijab has surfaced.
