One Step Away from Building Walls on Streets: Everything About Hashemi Golpayegani
We are one step away from building walls on sidewalks. There is little left until Hassan Rouhani’s prediction comes true. In 2013, amid the election campaigns, he warned that they want to build walls on sidewalks. Later, his rivals often mocked him for this statement, claiming he said it to eliminate competition and scare people. However, a year after the arrival of the conservative government and the consolidation of power, we are gradually approaching that warning step by step.
The controversial statements of the new secretary of the Headquarters for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice coincide with the policies of this institution in the realm of hijab and gender segregation, along with intensified security and law enforcement actions in this area, and the alignment and support of other branches of power, conservative political figures, and both responsible and non-responsible officials with this policy.
The Person in Charge of Selection at Imam Sadiq University
But who is Mohammad Saleh Hashemi Golpayegani, whose arrival has intensified actions and policies in this domain to this extent? He is an ‘Imam Sadiqi,’ and the entry of graduates from Imam Sadiq University into the managerial and political structure of the country began with Ahmadinejad’s government, nearly stopped with Rouhani’s arrival, but has now peaked with Raisi’s government.
Hashemi Golpayegani was born in 1967 in Tehran. He studied philosophy and theology at Imam Sadiq University and became a faculty member of this university. With a decree from Mahdavi Kani, he established the selection unit at Imam Sadiq University and was responsible for this unit until 2010, an experience completely related and aligned with his current mission at the Headquarters for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice.
Female students of the girls’ unit at Imam Sadiq University narrate very strange stories about the strict and complex security system of the university’s selection, not only during registration and admission but also in the visual and intellectual monitoring of students throughout their academic years.
Kazem Sedighi, the head of the Headquarters for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, in a decree issued for Hashemi Golpayegani on May 24 of last year, stated: Considering the need for transformation in the Headquarters for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice in line with the expectations of the Supreme Leader and the goals outlined in the statement of the second step of the Islamic Revolution, and given your knowledge, insight, valuable experiences, revolutionary and jihadi spirit, and transformative management, I appoint you as the secretary of the Headquarters for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice from May 24 for a period of three years, while maintaining your position.
Instead of Building Walls, We Separate Classes
Traces of his presidency at the selection unit of Imam Sadiq University and the prevailing atmosphere of this institution can also be seen in his statements. In one of his latest remarks, he said, for example, when asked why students are segregated by gender before reaching puberty and then mixed when they go to university, I have no answer. We have gender segregation in the first grade of elementary school, but by the age of 18, at the height of gender issues, we have coeducation.
I believe that bringing gender issues into the educational environment causes scientific and spiritual harm. How can we build walls in classes? But what’s wrong if, for example, at Azad University, which has two buildings, it writes in this year’s entrance exam booklet that one university is only for boys and the other only for girls. Families welcome gender segregation. Families want a safe environment. 21 universities and colleges have gender segregation in the world, and even some universities in the United States have been gender-segregated.
Immodest People Fined, Celebrities Arrested
Hashemi Golpayegani doesn’t have much faith in cultural work in the realm of hijab but believes in operational work. He has said that in the chastity and hijab plan of the headquarters, the immodest is no longer a criminal but an offender, and instead of case-building and punishments provided by law, the person is fined monetarily. Immodest people are identified in public places like the metro with cameras, and an impactful fine is sent to them.
He also said, where does the Fajr Festival resemble the Revolution Festival? These celebrities, if they were on the street, the morality police would warn them. Well, the police should show authority and arrest them at the same Fajr Festival. The children of officials who come from abroad and don’t adhere to the dress code should also be dealt with by the morality police so that people see there is no difference between individuals.
Mobilizing Supporters
But the main idea he pursues is that some merely by lamenting the vices and lamenting the state of society lead to a feeling of despair and instill weakness. We must do operational work based on a plan to improve the hijab situation. He probably realized that the failed idea of the morality police cannot control the entire society, which is why his idea is to mobilize ideological supporters to defend them with all their might.
He has said that in this plan, there is no physical confrontation, and the police force does not directly deal with the immodest, and no tension or conflict occurs. This plan is completely popular and responds to the rightful demands of the people and the families of the martyrs.
Supportive Umbrella Over Enforcers
Narratives also indicate that support for enforcers of virtue or individuals who voluntarily or involuntarily feel obligated to warn citizens and even engage with them has increased during Hashemi Golpayegani’s tenure with judicial backing. Only a few recent media-reported cases confirm this trend.
1. Mostafavi Passage in Shiraz: Two protesting women in Shiraz who were warned about their hijab by two martyr’s sisters were arrested. The media reported that these two women got into a confrontation with the two sisters and insulted and assaulted them. The two sisters were appreciated and comforted, and the location of the incident, Mostafavi Passage in Shiraz, was sealed.
2. Sepideh Rashno, a passenger on a BRT bus who was confronted by Reyhaneh Rabiei about her hijab and filmed her, was arrested and faced a heavy indictment. She was released after 40 days with an 800 million toman bail.
3. A female teacher who warned other women about their hijab on a train was introduced as the national ambassador of the Jihad for Explanation of the Chastity and Hijab Plan by the Headquarters for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice and was appreciated in a ceremony. The train driver who told the woman ‘Who are you to interfere?’ was reprimanded and suspended from work. It was also claimed that the teacher was assaulted.
The Law on Supporting Enforcers of Virtue and Preventers of Vice was passed in 2015 in the Ninth Parliament. This law states that no person or group has the right to commit criminal acts such as insult, slander, assault, or murder in the name of enjoining good and forbidding wrong.
Natural or legal persons do not have the right to create obstacles to the implementation of enjoining good and forbidding wrong. Creating any type of obstacle or nuisance that is recognized as a crime by law, in addition to the prescribed punishment, results in a sentence of imprisonment or a grade seven monetary fine. Enforcers of virtue and preventers of vice are subject to judicial support as stipulated in Article 4 of the Judicial Support Law for the Basij, approved in 1992 by the Islamic Consultative Assembly.