Fallout from the Qom, Iran Incident

On March 11, we posted an article from the Italian press about an incident that had occurred a couple of days prior in Qom, Iran. A woman with her sick child angrily attacked a mullah who was taking her picture apparently because her head was uncovered.

The story and the video from the hospital’s surveillance camera have gone viral. Now the Iranian government has reacted as it would be predicted. They are starting to arrest people for disseminating the video. What has happened or will happen to the woman in question is not known.

This article from France24 is translated by Fousesquawk.

https://observers.france24.com/fr/moyen-orient/20240313-je-suis-une-salope-aussi-femmes-iraniennes-hashtag-harc%C3%A8lement-mollahs

#I am a slut too: Iranian women launch a hashtag against harassment by the mullahs

In a hospital in the very religious city of Qom, a woman, her sick child in her arms, was taken to task by a mullah because her veil was down on her shoulders. The video surveillance of the scene, posted on March 9, raised an outcry in Iran, women accusing the mullah, cell phone in hand, of wanting to report the mother using an app from the Islamic regime. Its users called the woman a “slut”….and unleashed a massive reaction on social media.

Posted March 13, 2024 at 18:41.

Caption: Video appeared on March 9 on social media in Iran showing a young mother accusing a mullah of taking pictures of her and her child without asking her for permission. The mullah is accused of having used an app furnished by the government.

An initial excerpt of the video surveillance camera of the hospital shows the mother crouched in a corner, the veil on her shoulders, and her hair visible while a mullah stands nearby and uses his phone.

In a second excerpt. we see the angry mother, who accosts the mullah, whom she accuses of taking photos of her and her child without her permission. “Give me your phone, let me see the photo, and delete it,” she says. Several other women, some wearing hijabs, others not, come to her aid. One of them seizes the phone from the hands of the mullah and checks it.

Caption: Screenshot of the Qom hospital video disseminated on March 9, 2024. The mother is crouched, her hair uncovered while a mullah uses his phone in the proximity.

A year and a half after the start of the demonstrations by the “Woman, Life, Freedom” movement in September 2022, Iranian women reacted to these images with virulence. The videos of the scene have been viewed hundreds of thousands of times on social media.

Many comments suggest that the mullah was using an app furnished by the government on his telephone, known under the name of “Nazer” (observer or informant in Persian). It is furnished to informers approved by the Iranian (government), to notify authorities of the violations of the wearing of the veil, to which they are witness. The women who are reported receive “unveiling notifications” by text message, in some cases, sanctions such as the confiscation of their vehicle.

In this message posted March 9, 2024, Iranian women shars excerpts from the video surveillance (camera) of a hospital in Qom, in which is seen the mother accusing the mullah of having taken photos of her with her sick child. The mullah is called a “dirty pig” because he is suspected of having used an app furnished by the government to report the young woman for not wearing a hijab.

For supporters of the regime, “shameless behavior”

On March 10, 2024, the general prosecutor of Qom, also a mullah, announced his strong support of the mullah in the video. “We are pursuing the disruptors of public order and the people implicated in the dissemination of the video on social media and Persian opposition media abroad,” he declared. On March 12, the deputy prosecutor of the city, Rohollah Moslemkhani, told local media that four persons had been arrested for disseminating the video.

On social media, pro-regime users placed responsibility on the mother. Some accused her of “shameless behavior”. They used the Persian insult, “salifeh“, which can be translated as “slut” because she let her scarf fall down to her shoulders while she was taking care of her child.

Caption: After the video was posted by opposition media, certain pro-regime accounts on social media called the mother a “slut”. “What clearly emerges from this video is the slutty behavior of this woman,” says one of these accounts.

What was the mullah doing with his phone?

After the death of Mahsa Amini subsequent to her detention by the Iranian morality police in September 2022 and the massive demonstrations that followed, the Islamic Republic changed strategy. The mortality police street patrols were discontinued, and the regime exhorted Iranian citizens to report women in public without hijabs. 

The regime created websites, telephone lines, and a smartphone app allowing citizens to easily report women without the veil. The citizens who download the app, Nazer, must register, be approved, and take a brief training course. Their reports are then used to impose fines, and even, in certain cases, arrest the women reported.

Caption: This message, posted March 10, 2024, mentions the possibility that the mullah at the Qom hospital was using an app furnished to confirmed agents of the regime, Nazer (observer or informant). This app permits its users to report women who do not respect the hijab regulations to the authorities.

The partisans of the Woman, Life, Liberty movement reacted by creating the hashtag #I am also a slut to express their support for the mother. “The Woman, Life, Liberty revolution is alive,” writes one woman on X. ” “It cannot be stopped, and it has an impact on our lives and our culture every time the occasion presents itself. Sometimes, we resist by removing our scarves, sometimes by using the words:#I am a slut too”.