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 Some 7,000 men and women officers began reporting such violations
in Tehran, Iran's capital, on Monday. The head of police said the
officers were not authorized to arrest anyone; they can only send
reports of violations by text messages to police headquarters.
Asked about the undercover morality police, President Hassan Rouhani
said such decisions should not be made by the government and he
would keep his promise to preserve citizens' freedom.
"Our first duty is to respect people's dignity and personality. God
has bestowed dignity to all human beings and this dignity precedes
religion," Rouhani was quoted as saying by the news agency ISNA on
Wednesday.
 Iranian police are part of the armed forces and supervised by
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, but the government has a say
in their policies through the Interior Ministry.
The morality police in Iran usually detain women on the street for
wearing bright clothes, a loose hijab or make-up, and men for
"unacceptable" hair and clothing styles. They have sealed off barber
shops for giving Western haircuts and cafes in which boys and girls
were not observing Islamic law.
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Rouhani came to office in 2013 mainly on the votes of young people,
and he has disagreed with strict Islamic rules. Many young Iranians
hoped that his presidency would be accompanied by an easing of
cultural restrictions.
But hardliners have moved to block any relaxation of the Islamic
Republic's social rules, warning of the "infiltration" of Western
culture. They harshly criticized Rouhani last year for saying the
police should enforce the law rather than Islam.
In 2014, he said "you can't send people to heaven by the whip," a
comment that brought a reaction from the Supreme Leader.
(Reporting by Bozorgmehr Sharafedin, editing by Larry King)
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