Videos show Iranian women being snatched from the streets by other women under the cover of war with Israel
In Tehran’s Revolution Square, two women clad in long black burqas approach another woman, dressed in jeans, a long-sleeved shirt and a hijab, or head scarf.
She tries to walk away, but one of the women in burqas grabs her by her sleeve and pulls her back, yanking her onto the ground. She is surrounded, wrapped in a blanket and bundled into a white van.
The scene is from one of many videos that have been circulating widely on social media in recent weeks, showing incidents of the latest crackdown by Iran’s so-called morality police.
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Source: Iran International
But this time, another enforcement group is more visibly working alongside the regime – and they are also women.
Sky News has analysed dozens of videos showing incidents of authorities’ renewed campaign targeting women for not properly wearing their hijab in accordance with the regime’s strict sharia law.
“Before this new wave of attacks started, I was planning to get rid of some of my longer clothes, because I don’t feel comfortable in them,” said Leila, an Iranian woman in her 20s living in Tehran. She spoke to Sky News on condition of anonymity.
“Now, I find myself wearing those even though I hate them, because I think I wouldn’t feel safe going out of my house wearing something that I could potentially lose my life over, or that I could get arrested for.”
‘Ambassadors of Kindness’
What’s notable about this recent spate of arrests is the increased presence of women in burqas, considered by Iranian leaders as the most modest form of dress, working with authorities.
They are part of a new enforcement group, dubbed by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as “Ambassadors of Kindness”, who are helping enforce harsh regulations and silence dissent, one expert said.
Some young Iranians are calling them “bats”.
Leila was recently in the street when she spotted the police and stopped to cover her hair. She was then approached by a woman wearing a full hijab who told her she should “be afraid of God, not the police”.
“The truth is that when someone is wearing full hijab I am afraid that she might be with the police,” she said.
It’s not the first time the IRGC has employed women to help them. But Hadi Ghaemi, director of New York-based Centre for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI), says they’ve increased in number, as have the physical presence of morality police, white vans and police cars, which are used in the arrests of women on the street.
“They’re not armed, but they’re meant to go intimidate women by politely and kindly warning them. Then if the woman doesn’t listen, they call over security forces,” said Mr Ghaemi.
“What’s really scary is the way [authorities] are recommending citizens turn on citizens.”
War at home
As Iran launched its first ever attack on Israel, it intensified this less-noticed war at home.
Three days before it flew missiles into Israel, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader of Iran, said that women in the Islamic Republic must obey the dress code, regardless of their beliefs.
Then on Saturday 13 April, Tehran’s police chief Abbas Ali Mohammadian said people who ignored prior warnings faced legal action.
Read the latest on the Israel-Hamas war here
Not long after his statement was released, videos showing white police vans on the streets of cities across Iran went viral.
Iranian authorities say their Nour (Persian for ‘light’) campaign targets businesses and individuals who defy hijab law and responds to demands from devout citizens who are angry about the growing number of unveiled women in public.
“The level of brutality is very, very high right now,” said Masih Alinejad, an Iranian American journalist and activist.
“This time they are more emboldened. You can see it on their faces and see it from the huge number of them.”
In one video analysed by Sky News, at least six officers wearing yellow vests appear to be arresting one woman outside a train station in Tehran. She resists but fails to break free, and is ushered into a white van.
In another video posted the same day authorities announced their campaign, footage shows a cluster of white police cars, vans, and men in uniform in Tehran’s Valiasr Square.
Sky News was able to verify the precise location of the videos and the date each clip first appeared online.
Women and girls arrested
Morality police vans had largely vanished from the streets of Iran since last year, when widespread protests erupted across the country in the wake of the death of Mahsa Amini, a Kurdish-Iranian woman who died while being detained for improperly wearing her hijab.
Read more: Who was Mahsa Amini?
Mahsa Amini. Pic: Center for Human Rights in Iran
Police now appear to be back out in force, as a draconian ‘hijab and chastity’ bill is also currently making its way through the country’s parliament. One group of students reported new facial recognition software installed at a university dormitory.
But while street protests have died down, resistance to the regime’s hardline policies has not.
Iranian authorities released footage purporting to show members of the public being rude to, and lashing out at, morality police.
![A video from Iranian authorities, with the subtitle: 'The beating of the oppressed and powerful agents of Faraja [law enforcement] by the female beasts of the Women, Life, Freedom movement'](https://e3.365dm.com/24/04/768x432/skynews-iran-women_6537677.jpg?20240429173946)
A video from Iranian authorities, with the subtitle: ‘The beating of the oppressed and powerful agents of Faraja [law enforcement] by the female beasts of the Women, Life, Freedom movement.’
But this has backfired, said Ms Alinejad: “Now that video is going viral because people are so proud of the young women.”
Mina, another Iranian woman, had her car confiscated for three weeks last year because of her hijab. But she remains defiant.
Read more: Death sentence imposed on Iranian rapper Toomaj Salehi
“We fight not only to have the right to choose coverage, but to have the right to choose a lifestyle,” she said.
Another video showed the arrest of a woman for allegedly not wearing her hijab in Haft Tir metro station in Tehran.
But a crowd surrounded her, chanting “free her” and calling the police “dishonoured.” Not long after the noise began, the police released the woman.
The ‘war against women’
As these videos went viral, so did talk about Iran’s “war on women”. Since 12 April there has been a steady rise in the number of times the Farsi for ‘mandatory hijab’ (حجاب اجباری) was used across Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
On 11 April the phrase was used 585 times – but by 22 April it was mentioned in almost 10,000 posts, according to social listening platform Talkwalker.
The hashtag #IRGCTerrorists was also repeatedly used to accompany posts about discrimination against women. This peaked on 16 April, when more than 234,000 posts used this hashtag.
Farsi for ‘War against women’ (جنگ_علیه_زنان) then surged the following day and was used almost 30,000 times. Some 42% of these posts came from Iran itself.
What is next for the women of Iran?
“The anger among Iranians is much stronger and heavier than before,” Mina said.
“I don’t think they are going to give up that fight. The flame of revolution is still burning in Iran.”
Some women, she said, are willing to risk imprisonment: “They would rather get arrested but not live in humiliation and not live under these barbaric officers walking in the streets.”
Additional reporting by John Sparks, International correspondent, Sam Doak, OSINT producer
The Data and Forensics team is a multi-skilled unit dedicated to providing transparent journalism from Sky News. We gather, analyse and visualise data to tell data-driven stories. We combine traditional reporting skills with advanced analysis of satellite images, social media and other open-source information. Through multimedia storytelling, we aim to better explain the world while also showing how our journalism is done.
Iran’s president and foreign minister have died after their helicopter crashed in mountains.
The deaths of President Ebrahim Raisi and minister Hossein Amirabdollahian were confirmed by officials after rescuers found the chopper’s burned wreckage on Monday morning, more than 12 hours after it came down in bad weather.
Iranian media said the crash in Iran’s East Azerbaijan province killed eight people in all, including three crew members on the helicopter, which Iran purchased in the early 2000s.
Five days of national mourning have been declared by Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
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Rescuers reach helicopter crash site
Funeral processions will be held in several Iranian cities on Tuesday.
The bodies of Mr Raisi and Mr Amirabdollahian will be flown to the central Iranian city of Qom, where the late president studied, and then brought to the capital Tehran, where Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is expected to lead congregational funeral prayers.
Search teams at the crash site. Pic: WANA/Reuters
Mr Raisi, Iran’s eighth president since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, will be buried in the northeastern city of Mashhad on Thursday.
US State department spokesperson Matt Miller said Mr Raisi “has blood on his hands” as the former hardline cleric was “a brutal participant in the repression of the Iranian people for nearly four decades”.
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Iran state TV confirms president’s death
Mr Miller said Mr Raisi “was involved in numerous horrific human rights abuses, including playing a key role in the extra judicial killing of thousands of political prisoners in 1988”.
“Some of the worst human rights abuses occurred during his tenure as president, especially the human rights abuses against the women and girls of Iran,” he added.
The US approach to Iran “will not change” because of Mr Raisi’s death, Mr Miller said.
Iran media says the crash happened in Iran’s East Azerbaijan province
Iran‘s Mehr news agency reported “all passengers of the helicopter carrying the Iranian president and foreign minister were martyred”.
State TV said it had smashed into a mountain. There has been no official word on the cause, but there was thick fog in the area.
“President Raisi’s helicopter was completely burned in the crash… unfortunately, all passengers are feared dead,” an official told Reuters.
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President of Iran killed in crash
Drone footage appeared to show the tail of the helicopter and scattered debris.
The search involving civilian and military teams had been hampered by fog and the remoteness of the crash site.
First Vice President Mohammad Mokhber has been put in temporary charge and new elections must be held within 50 days
Read more:
Profile: A hardliner known for his role in mass execution
Iranian TV showed the president on the helicopter during a trip to Iran’s border with Azerbaijan
TV pictures from Sunday showed thick fog at the search site. Pic: IRNA
Mr Raisi, 63, who was seen as a frontrunner to succeed Ayatollah Khamenei, was travelling from Iran’s border with Azerbaijan where he had inaugurated a dam with the country’s president.
The governor of Iran’s East Azerbaijan province, officials, and bodyguards, are also believed to be among those killed.
The helicopter was travelling in a convoy of three aircraft, and Iranian media initially described it as a “hard landing”.
Iranian news agency IRNA said Mr Raisi was flying in an American-made Bell 212 helicopter purchased in the early 2000s.
State media says this is the last-known picture of the helicopter. Pic: IRNA
The Iranian president was inaugurating a dam with the Azerbaijan’s president, Ilham Aliyev (right). Pic: IRNA
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi was among the world leaders to react to the president’s death.
He said he was “deeply saddened and shocked” and offered “heartfelt condolences to his family and the people of Iran”.
Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani expressed “great sadness and great sorrow” in a statement.
Pakistan leader Shehbaz Sharif, posting on X, offered “deepest condolences and sympathies to the Iranian nation on this terrible loss”.
Mohammad Mokhber has been put in interim charge. File pic: AP
Russian President Vladimir Putin called it a “huge tragedy” and “a difficult, irreparable loss”.
Mr Raisi was elected in 2021 in a vote that had the lowest turnout in the Islamic Republic’s history.
He previously served in several roles in Iran’s judicial system, including as deputy prosecutor. He was sanctioned by the US over the mass execution of political prisoners at the end of the Iran-Iraq war in 1988.
His time in charge included major protests over Mahsa Amini – the woman who died after she was arrested for allegedly not wearing her hijab properly.
Iran also took the unprecedented decision in April to launch a drone and missile attack on Israel.
Sky’s Middle East correspondent Alistair Bunkall said Mr Raisi was not a universally popular figure and that many inside Iran will celebrate his death.
He said the country’s approach to foreign affairs after his death was likely to be “business as usual”.
Iranian protesters have expressed “joy” over the death of President Ebrahim Raisi who was dubbed the “Butcher of Tehran”.
Speaking to Sky News’ The World With Yalda Hakim, three Iranians spoke on the condition of anonymity over fears of being tracked down by the country’s regime.
A protest leader – who is currently in hiding – suggested Sunday’s crash, that also killed Iran’s foreign minister, was “pre-planned”.
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Rescuers reach helicopter crash site
“We may not be across everything, but it’s been a known fact for a long time that Raisi was a serious contender to replace the Supreme Leader Khamenei, and perhaps some didn’t want that to happen.
“But all in all, this was very good news.
“All I can say is that the only thing that has made me truly happy over the past five years has been the news of Raisi’s death.”
Ebrahim Raisi. Pic: Reuters
Mr Raisi’s time in charge included major protests over Mahsa Amini – the woman who died after she was arrested for allegedly not wearing her hijab properly.
The US said Mr Raisi had “blood on his hands” as the former hardline cleric was “a brutal participant in the repression of the Iranian people for nearly four decades”.
Iran also took the unprecedented decision in April to launch a drone and missile attack on Israel.
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Iranians mourn death of president
A 23-year-old student – who has taken part in a number of protests – said: “The death of Raisi has made the people of Iran very happy.
“On the streets, people were handing out sweets, they were smiling at each other.
“That’s the extent to which this news has spread joy amongst people.”
Read more:
Who was hardliner Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi?
‘Butcher of Tehran’ had fearsome reputation – many will fear instability
Raisi’s death may not mean immediate change for Iran
From the voices speaking out on The World with Yalda Hakim from inside Iran there was a sense of celebration on the eve of the funeral of their dead president but also a sense of realism.
One dead president the fall of a regime does not make. That is the bitter truth for those brave Iranians speaking out and the millions of Iranians they represent. They detest a man who presided over a brutal crackdown on protests that saw hundreds killed on the streets, and thousands incarcerated, tortured, raped or killed after their arbitrary arrest.
But there are reasons for Iranians to find some hope in the news of the president’s death.
Analysts have compared the Iranian theocratic Islamic regime to the Soviet Union in its dying days.
It is ideologically bankrupt. Its people do not believe in what it stands for anymore. It is morally bankrupt too, after the brutal repression that crushed the Women, Life and Freedom protests. But it remains powerful, with many people on its payroll and it is hard to predict how or when it falls.
Iran’s people want one thing though, and its government the opposite, and that ultimately is impossible to sustain.
Raisi had a unique skill set. He was both a zealous idealogue and an ex-judge. A man who understood how both Iran’s judiciary and presidency works. He combined a passionate belief in the Iranian revolution with an expertise in how its regime operated.
It has been said many times in the last 24 hours that Ayatollah Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, will find another hardliner to replace him. There are plenty more where he came from.
But no one with quite his skills and expertise. That may not be important immediately but at the moment of greatest danger in the not so distant future when Khamenei dies, it could make all the difference.
With no anointed successor, the supreme leader’s passing could usher in a period of instability and weakness for the regime. Raisi was seen as a potential successor but also a powerful stabilising force as president in that perilous hiatus, someone who could hold the ring while the new order is established and power struggles fought out.
Raisi’s death may well not mean immediate change for Iran but it could ultimately hasten its end.
A housewife, who was beaten up for taking parting in the “Woman, Life, Protest” movements, said: “The public hatred towards this regime is not a secret to anyone.
“Raisi’s death proved that the pain that this inflicted on our people will one day hit them back.
“My personal reaction to the death of Raisi… I was very happy.
“I’m not upset at all. Even though I never wish death on anyone, but this man, not only did he not do anything for our nation, but he ordered the death of countless young innocent people.”
Following news of Mr Raisi’s death, US State department spokesperson Matt Miller said the Iranian president “was involved in numerous horrific human rights abuses, including playing a key role in the extra judicial killing of thousands of political prisoners in 1988”.
“Some of the worst human rights abuses occurred during his tenure as president, especially the human rights abuses against the women and girls of Iran,” he added.
The US approach to Iran “will not change” because of Mr Raisi’s death, Mr Miller said.
World
President Raisi’s death a perilous moment for Iran regime – but don’t expect a change to foreign policy
This is a delicate time for Iran. President Raisi was the second most important man in Iran, after Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
His death, now confirmed, will have far-reaching consequences.
Although Khamenei has tried to reassure the country in recent hours, the regime will know this is a perilous moment that must be handled carefully.
Live updates – Iranian president killed in crash
There are mechanisms to protect the regime in events like this and the Revolutionary Guard, which was founded in 1979 precisely for that purpose, will be a major player in what comes next.
In the immediate term, vice-president Mohammed Mokhber will assume control and elections will be held within 50 days.
Mokhber isn’t as close to the supreme leader as Raisi was, and won’t enjoy his standing, but he has run much of Khamenei’s finances for years and is credited with helping Iran evade some of the many sanctions levied on it.
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Drone footage of helicopter crash site
Raisi’s successor will most likely be the chosen candidate of the supreme leader and certainly another ultra-conservative hardliner – a shift back to the moderates is highly unlikely.
Likewise, we shouldn’t expect any significant change in Iran’s foreign activities or involvement with the war in Gaza. It will be business as usual, as much as possible.
However, after years of anti-government demonstrations following the death of Mahsa Amini in 2022, this might be a moment for the protest movement to rise up and take to the streets again.
Read more:
Who was hardliner Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi?
‘Butcher of Tehran’ had fearsome reputation – many will fear instability
Hardline cleric Ebrahim Raisi wins landslide victory
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Islamic State may seek to take advantage
There are also many dissident groups inside Iran, including an off-shoot of Islamic State – they might seek to take advantage of this situation.
Raisi became president in 2021 at the second time of asking and only with a turnout of 41%, the lowest since the 1979 revolution.
The president was considered one of the two frontrunners to succeed Ayatollah Ali Khamanei (pictured). Pic: Reuters
He was not a universally popular figure and many inside Iran will celebrate his death.
Consequences for supreme leader
Longer term, Raisi’s death will have consequences for the supreme leader.
He was considered one of the two frontrunners to succeed Ayatollah Ali Khamanei on his death – the other being Khamanei’s son Mojtaba.
For religious and conservative Iranians, Raisi’s death will be mourned; for many though, it will be the passing of a man who had blood on his hands.
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