The issue of violence in Iran is not a problem of today or yesterday. Stories of violent behaviors, especially towards women, are a reflection of the past years in Iran. Whenever an action or behavior is perceived as an act of violence, the perpetrator is evaluated and understood as a violent human being. In this context, women are the main subjects; perhaps the reason for this is the traditional perception of them as the second sex and the modern perception (as a modern phenomenon) of equality in rights and humanity. In the old world, this inequality was accepted, but the new world demands new theoretical and behavioral foundations.

The year that we are in its final months, was not a good year for women in Iran. Strange acts of violence were committed against them and they were faced with phenomena, although with a history, but with new dimensions of violence and inhumane treatment. Behaviors that have raised serious ethical questions in Iranian society, to the point that some have even spoken of the beginning of immorality in Iranian society!

In October of this year, acid was thrown on women and girls in Isfahan, and tragedies occurred that left the nation wounded and affected. Official reports from the Isfahan police confirm up to four victims, but unofficial reports have increased this number to 15. Apparently, the acid attacks were not only targeted towards unveiled women and girls, or those who are considered immodest by the government’s standards, but also towards women who were even wearing a chador and were subjected to such behavior. The common factor in all of these attacks was that they were aimed at women who were outside of their homes and engaged in some sort of activity.

After the news of acid attacks became public, the first few days were dominated by a sense of security in the city of Isfahan. Women and girls in Isfahan and in other major cities in Iran – such as Tehran – were filled with fear. This issue was particularly evident in Isfahan, and the presence of women and girls in public streets decreased. It has been reported that two weeks before the acid attacks, a text message was sent to the people of Isfahan with the content of “acid will be thrown on the faces of unveiled women”. Initially, it seems that non-acidic but corrosive substances like whitex were sprayed, causing superficial injuries but not taken seriously.

Sohila Jorkesh is one of the victims of these incidents who is attacked by two motorcyclists. She is targeted with acid while stopping her personal car to answer her mobile phone next to the street. Neda also stops next to the street to answer her mother’s call and due to the hot weather, she lowers the window and then… Sara is also attacked on the street and in her car, and the rest are also victims of similar situations; methods similar to these, where motorcyclists with helmets and covered faces spray acid. Some of the victims die in these incidents and the eyes and beauty of the faces are lost.

At first, attention was turned towards personal enemies. But the similarities and denial of the issue that the enemies had victims has eliminated this doubt. In the meantime, some members of the parliament have considered this issue related to foreign and external services with strange words. Abbasali Mansouri Arani, a member of the National Security and Foreign Policy Commission of the parliament, tells ISNA in late Mehr month of this year: “Until the criminals are arrested, we cannot judge their identity, but undoubtedly the acid attackers are being helped by foreign and Zionist intelligence services.”

Despite the opinions expressed that bring to mind the saying of Mawlana Jalal ad-Din Balkhi, “His reasoning brought laughter to the people!”, there have been discussions about the issue of commanding good and forbidding evil in the current year among the Friday Imams of Isfahan, which can shed light on the motivations and causes of the issue. Sayyid Yousef Tabataba’i-nejad, one of the Friday Imams of Isfahan, had said in his Friday prayer sermons, “The issue of hijab has gone beyond the point of warning and to combat immodesty, we must raise the stick and use force.” And Sheikh Mohammad Taghi Rahbar, another Friday Imam of the city, had also said in his Friday prayer sermons a few months ago that “commanding good and forbidding evil must go beyond verbal warnings.” However, he later denied his previous statements after these events.

The similarity of the type of attacks and the victims is that all of them were women and girls who were active outside of their homes. The previous statements of the Friday prayer leaders and clerics of this city all indicate the involvement of religious forces supporting the government, which could include the Basij and the city’s Revolutionary Guards, in these attacks. The incompetence of the officials in their initial condemnations and later attributing it to foreigners and personal conflicts, and the lack of proper follow-up, shows that the situation has dimensions beyond what the government claims.

According to BBC Persian, on the first of Aban month of this year, Abdullah Mahmoudzadeh, the responsible of the deputy commander’s office in the law enforcement force, said: “The perpetrators of the acid attacks in Isfahan have been identified and have no connection to the issue of hijab.” He spoke with IRNA and confirmed: “The suspect has been identified and will be arrested soon.” Before him, Hossein Zolfaghari, the security deputy of the Ministry of Interior in Isfahan, had stated that the acid attacks were carried out individually and not organized.

Excessive emphasis by security officials on the lack of organization and lack of connection of this issue with commanding good and forbidding evil is itself questionable. The coincidence of this issue with the implementation of commanding good and forbidding evil in the parliament, which granted immunity to commanders and forbidders, is another reason for this situation. Furthermore, there has been no official news of the arrest of these acid throwers and there is still talk of identification until their arrest. How can the authorities be helpless in arresting those who have committed such a heinous crime against the people of Isfahan, while they are able to arrest young people who are singing on the rooftops of their homes?

On October 22nd, a group of women and political and human rights activists gathered in front of the Islamic Consultative Assembly in Tehran, mostly at the invitation of the Women’s Citizenship Center, to protest against these atrocities and demand decisive action against those responsible and support for the women and girls of Isfahan. In Isfahan, a number of activists and citizens also gathered in front of the Isfahan Judiciary on the same day. Although this presence received widespread media coverage and prominent activists were among the attendees, it was not taken seriously by the government and even after the event, security forces attacked the home of one of the female protesters, Mahdieh Golrou, and arrested her, sending her to Evin Prison. In addition, a photographer and some reporters from Isna Isfahan were also arrested at the same time.

However, in this incident, the Iranian society did not achieve a satisfactory moral score; simultaneously with the acid attacks, a group of young people in some cities like Tehran, by splashing water on the faces of their fellow countrywomen, promoted the fear of veiling and with this inappropriate and immoral joke, they took the initiative to scare and intimidate women and girls. Although the commander of the police in Khorasan Razavi, Bahman Amiri Moghadam, has stated in an interview with IRNA that three of these water splashers have been arrested, this question remains in front of the Iranian society, observers and analysts of social issues, that after more than three decades since the revolution, what has happened to a society whose members were willing to sacrifice for their fellow countrymen during the revolution and the eight-year war, that today they make fun of the tragedy of acid attacks and simulate this inhumane behavior by splashing water? The question of where such a moral decline

One and a half months after the tragedies in Isfahan, this time in Jahrom, eleven women are attacked with knives, mostly in the buttocks area. The victims were women and girls who did not have the government-mandated dress code. With the efforts of the police, the perpetrator is arrested on December 6th. The perpetrator, Mohammad Beheshti-Far, 22 years old and a member of Basij-e Qotbabad, from the suburbs of Jahrom and the son of Colonel Pasdaran Jalil Beheshti-Far, commander of Basij-e Qotbabad. His stated motivation was to enjoin good and forbid evil, influenced by the words of a clergyman who deemed shedding the blood of unveiled women permissible. The issue is very simple; a simple young man from a rural village, the son of a Colonel Pasdaran, and raised in a religious family, is influenced by such words and commits a heinous act in

In the latest case up until today, on December 25th of this year, Dideban reports that a woman in Tehran was attacked with acid in the style of Isfahan acid attacks.

From the early years of the revolution and the imposition of hijab until today, the issue of clothing, hijab, and the government’s interpretation of modesty has been a controversial and challenging topic. In each period, they have used different excuses to restrict women’s freedom in this area. Sometimes it’s with winter boots, and other times with leggings or the famous “support” in Iran. Sometimes it’s about the length of the headscarf, and other times it’s about the color of people’s clothing. However, this year is a strange one; the recent acid attacks, water attacks, and knife stabbings in Jahrom are a testament to the increasing violence against women in Iran. Violence that can be justified by a single sentence or statement from a certain cleric or Friday prayer leader, giving individuals a religious license to carry out what they call “religious duties”.