Morality police first appeared in Iran soon after the Islamic Revolution of 1979. But similar forces were present in parts of the Middle East even prior to the date.
Women holding up photographs of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini during a demonstration in Arbil, the capital of Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan region, on Sept. 24, 2022.
Safin Hamed/AFP via Getty Images
A scholar of Iranian politics explains how Iranians have organized resistance movements for the past several decades while risking arrest and public flogging.
A demonstrator protesting a disputed election wearing a headband in support of the Green Movement, Tehran, June 15, 2009.
Kaveh Kazemi/Getty Images
The conflict between Iran and the US has gone on for decades. A scholar of social movements in Iran asks why the US has consistently failed to support that country’s activist reform movements.
Marzieh Afkham was the first female spokesperson in Iran’s foreign ministry.
EPA/Abedin Taherkenareh