WASHINGTON: An Iranian human rights group has relaunched a smartphone app designed to help Iranian citizens, especially women, avoid harassment, arrest and punishment by the strict “morality police” who enforce religious observance and public morality, including standards of dress, in the country.
United For Iran, an organization based in San Francisco that promotes civil liberties and individual human rights for Iranians, is promoting the Gershad app as a tool that can help citizens, journalists, activists and civil society groups to monitor the whereabouts of officials from the religious police so that they can steer clear of locations where officers are known to be active, avoiding the risk of confrontation.
It could help users avoid potential problems if they fail to follow rules or restrictions imposed by the religious police based on a strict interpretation of Shariah, in particular women who do not want to wear a hijab to cover their head in accordance with rigid government rules.
The Islamic Republic of Iran has been ruled by its religious establishment since the 1979 revolution that the toppled the pro-western Shah. Women in the country are required to conform to government restrictions on Western-style clothing and wear the hijab in public.
Last week, Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian woman reportedly suffered a serious head injury and was declared brain dead following her arrest by the morality police in Tehran, who accused her of failing to properly follow hijab rules. She died on Friday.
Amini was allegedly beaten inside a police van on the way to a detention center, according to eyewitnesses quoted in reports by Radio Farda, the Iranian branch of the US government-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty broadcast service.
A US government official condemned her death and demanded that the Iranian government holds accountable those responsible.
“Mahsa Amini’s death after injuries sustained while in police custody for wearing an ‘improper’ hijab is an appalling and egregious affront to human rights,” the official said.
“Women in Iran should have the right to wear what they want, free from violence or harassment. Iran must end its use of violence against women for exercising their fundamental freedoms.”
Muslim women are expected to cover their hair and dress modestly in accordance with Islamic teachings in many Islamic countries but, with the exception of Iran, their governments do not force them to wear a hijab and is not legally mandated.
The Gershad app was launched anonymously in February 2016, according to rights advocacy group United For Iran, which said that for reasons of safety and privacy it and partner organization Article 19 did not initially publicize their involvement in its development and release, but have chosen to do so now. It has been downloaded more than 100,000 times.
Firuzeh Mahmoudi, executive director of United For Iran, told Arab News that the group’s main objective is to enable and empower Iranians, especially women, to make their own choices about civil liberties and human rights free of government control.
“Our work is to support the people of Iran to have full self-agency of their own lives,” she said
The app is increasingly popular among young Iranian men and woman who want to live a normal life, just like their counterparts elsewhere in the world, according to Mahmoudi.
“Since Gershad’s launch, we have received powerful feedback about the role the app has played in helping to protect basic human rights and liberties, allowing Iranians to unite in an unprecedented way, preventing arrests and providing a platform for people to express how humiliating it is to deal with the morality police,” she said.
The Iranian people are modern-thinking and want to be free of government restrictions on the way they live or dress, she added.