Iranian youth get app to dodge morality police.

Iranian youth get app to dodge morality police.  (ET).

An anonymous team of Iranian app developers have come to the rescue of young fashion conscious Iranians by helping them avoid the country’s notorious morality police known as “Ershad” or guidance.

The new app called ‘Gershad’ will alert users to Ershad checkpoints and help them to avoid them by choosing a different route. Ershad’s mobile checkpoints which usually consist of a van, a few men and one or two women, are deployed in towns across Iran and appear with no notice.

“Police need to provide security for the citizens not to turn into a factor for fear. A while ago, angry with such unreasonable oppressions, we looked for a solution to find a practical way to resist the volume of injustices peacefully with low risk level, to restore part of our freedom”, wrote one of the creators on their Facebook page.

Another added, “Why do we have to be humiliated for our most obvious right which is the right to wear what we want? Social media networks and websites are full of footage and photos of innocent women who have been beaten up and dragged on the ground by the Ershad patrol agents.”

Gershad, a play on the Persian word Ershad, or “guidance,” translated roughly to “getting around the guidance patrol”, gave Iranian women a short-lived chance to wear what they wanted without worrying about getting stopped on Monday, until it was blocked by Iranian authorities on Tuesday.

It works by plotting the location of morality police checkpoints on maps of different Iranian cities. After enough users report seeing morality police at the same location, a cartoonish icon of a morality officer pops up on the map, alerting users of places they may want to avoid.

The app, free for Android users on Google’s app store, had over a 1,000 downloads and had received hundreds of five-star ratings and positive reviews in just one day.

An Iranian human rights group reported they were taking steps to get the app back online.

"Moderate" Iran's repression of women places it 130th in world gender equality.

"Moderate" Iran's repression of women places it 130th in world gender equality. (NCRI).

Iran under mullahs' rule has been ranked a lowly 130th in a new international survey of gender equality in society.

The regime was placed almost bottom out of the 136 nations assessed in the 2013 Global Gender Gap report by the World Economic Forum.

The study measures the access and opportunities for women in four key areas of health, education, economics and politics.

At the top of the table were the northern European nations of Iceland, Finland, Norway and Sweden.
But Iran was ahead only of Cote d'Ivoire, Mauritania, Syria, Chad and Yemen in the study which has again highlighted the repressive measures against women in Iranian society.

The survey comes after a separate report last week ranked Iran 94th in world index of 'skilled and productive' workforces.

The report measured the skills and capital that reside in people and that are put to productive use.
Iran highest ranking was 68th for the level of education of workers, followed by 87th for the physical and mental health of the employed population and 88th the state of environment in which they work.
But the regime was in 119th place - third from bottom across all 122 countries - for the quantity, talent and knowledge of the workforce.

'Kissing protest' in Ankara - Protestors in Ankara manage to go through with ‘kissing action’ despite 'RIOT police' mobilization.

DAILY NEWS photo, Selahattin SÖNMEZ

'Kissing protest' in Ankara - Protestors in Ankara manage to go through with ‘kissing action’ despite 'RIOT police' mobilization.(HD).

Ankara residents, who bidded today to protest “moral warning” for kissing couples in the local subway, managed to complete their scheduled “kissing action” at the Kurtuluş station despite a heavy mobilization of security officers who spoiled the festive atmosphere of the demonstration. Still, many protestors carried on their demonstration without letting themselves be intimidated.

The police attempted to prevent the group of around 200 from entering the subway trains. Still, some couples managed to kiss each other despite the police intervention, while a second group of around 30 people tried to separate the kissing demonstrators, even resorting to physical contact, daily Hürriyet reported on its website. Riot police also intervened, the report said.

The second group included members of the ruling Justice and Development Party’s (AKP) youth branches that had started a counter-campaign against the protesters.

Hürriyet quoted Celal Karaman, member of AKP’s youth branch, as saying that they aimed to send a message that “immorality was not freedom.”

Some of the protesters were also attacked by an unidentified group as they left the metro station, Hürriyet also reported.

The kissing protest would have been the first of its kind on Turkish rails. The protesters wanted to denounce a new announcement introduced last week at a metro station in Ankara which said “Passengers, please act in line with moral laws.”

Metro officials reportedly said the announcement was made because of camera footage of youngsters who were deemed to be “acting inappropriately.” Hmmm.....As i said before what's next in Islamist Turkey 'Morality Police'?Read the full story here.More photo's here.

What's next in Islamist Turkey? Morality Police? Metro station in Ankara saying, “Passengers, please act in line with moral laws”.

              A few more 'contracts' with their 'buddy' Iran and this might be reality in Turkey

What's next in Islamist Turkey? Morality Police? Metro station in Ankara saying, “Passengers, please act in line with moral laws”.(HD).

Ankara residents have started a social media campaign against a “moral warning” in the local metro system. Residents will gather May 25 at 6:30 p.m. at a central metro station for a protest campaign called “We are kissing at the Kurtuluş metro.”

An announcement at a metro station in Ankara saying, “Passengers, please act in line with moral laws” has drawn criticism from locals. Metro officials reportedly said the announcement was made because of camera footage of youngsters who were deemed to be “acting inappropriately.”

Republican People’s Party (CHP) deputy Levent Gök submitted a parliamentary question to Interior Minister Muammer Güler over the issue.

A similar protest campaign was held last year in Istanbul after a public bus driver told a couple, “This is not a place for sex.”Hmmmm.....the 'Kiss and Ride' project.Read the full story here.

Saudi court sentences Lebanese to year in jail, 200 lashes for drawing tattoos on the bodies of Saudi women.

Saudi court sentences Lebanese to year in jail, 200 lashes for drawing tattoos on the bodies of Saudi women.(DS).BEIRUT: A court in the Saudi Arabian city of Jeddah sentenced an unidentified Lebanese man to one year in prison and 200 lashes after he was convicted of drawing tattoos on the bodies of Saudi women and being a women’s hairdresser, a Saudi newspaper said Tuesday. Al-Madina newspaper reported that the district court also fined the man. The article said the Lebanese man, known as "The King of Tattoos" was arrested when a member of the Squad for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice pretended to be a driver for one of his female clients. The squad confiscated a bag in his possession which contained several lotions, some for weight loss, others for eliminating skin discoloration from the knees, and yet others for breast lifting, massage and enhancement. They also confiscated artificial eye lashes and products for hair coloring. The Saudi paper also said that when the man was arrested, he told the squad that he used these products as part of his work in Lebanon as a hairdresser, denying that he used them on Saudi women. During the subsequent investigation, police found text messages on his cellular phone from women indicating that he had tattooed their bodies at their residence. They also found pictures of tattooed women. The squad also found business cards he distributed to female clients. According to the paper, the investigation revealed that the Lebanese man had been working as a hairdresser and tattoo artist for nine years by entering the country on commercial visas. He reportedly received women in an apartment he rented but later began going to the women's houses as he thought this would be safer.Hmmmm.......Welcome to A.D. 640.....Sharia law included.Read the full story here.

Iran shuts down coffee shops in morality crackdown.

Iran shuts down coffee shops in morality crackdown.(JPost).Iranian police shut down dozens of restaurants and coffee shops over the weekend, Iranian media reported, in a renewed crackdown on what the state sees as immoral and un-Islamic behavior. Regular officers and members of the "morality police" raided 87 cafes and restaurants in a single district of the capital Tehran on Saturday and arrested women for flouting the Islamic dress code, according to the Iranian Students' News Agency (ISNA). "These places were shut for not following Islamic values, providing hookah to women, and lacking proper licenses," said Tehran police official Alireza Mehrabi, according to ISNA. Women are not allowed to smoke hookah, water pipes, in public. Mehrabi said the raid came as part of a plan to provide "neighborhood-oriented" security, and would continue in other parts of Tehran. Coffee shop culture has flourished in Iran in recent years, offering wireless Internet, snacks, hot drinks, and a place to hang out for Iranian youth in a country where there are no bars or Western chain restaurants or cafes. But that trend has been criticized by conservative Iranians who consider it a cultural imposition from the West and incompatible with Islamic values. The government periodically cracks down on behavior it considers un-Islamic, including mingling between the sexes outside of marriage. In 2007, Tehran police closed down 24 Internet cafes and other coffee shops in as many hours, detaining 23 people.Read the full story here.

Video - Iran Before 1979


 

Iran women banned from Euro 2012 TV events, "Women should thank the police" for the ban.

Iran women banned from Euro 2012 TV events, "Women should thank the police" for the ban.(HD).Women in Iran are being banned from watching live public screenings of Euro 2012 football games because of an "inappropriate" environment where men could become rowdy, a deputy police commander said Sunday. "It is an inappropriate situation when men and women watch football in (movie) theatres together," said Bahman Kargar, Iran's deputy police commander in charge of social affairs, according to the ISNA news agency. "Men, while watching football, get excited and sometimes utter vulgar curses or tell dirty jokes," he said. "It is not within the dignity of women to watch football with men. Women should thank the police" for the ban. The Euro 2012 games underway in Poland and Ukraine are being aired on state television in football-mad Iran. They are also being shown in movie theatres as a continuation of a practice that became popular for couples and families during the 2010 World Cup and the 2011 AFC Asian Cup. Many among Iran's hardline authorities and clerics favour segregation of the sexes and find the mingling of unrelated men and women to be corrupting. Women have to use women-only swimming pools, beaches and parks across the Islamic republic. Women can travel in the back of public buses, or use women-only taxi cabs or cars on the metro. All school classes, as well as some in universities, are segregated in Iran. Women are also required by law to observe an Islamic dress code, with those improperly wearing their mandatory headscarves or dressed in "vulgar" attires being confronted by Iran's so-called morality police.Read the full story here.

Iran's 70,000 female police officers strong 'morality police' tightens control on women with the rising heat.

Iran's 70,000 female police officers strong 'morality police' tightens control on women with the rising heat.(HD).Some 70,000 female police officers will be on the lookout for women dressed inappropriately on the streets of Iran in the rising summer heat, daily Vatan reported. Female police officers will be responsible for detecting and warning women who fail to dress in line with the moral code of the Iranian authorities. Officers too will be dressed in black burqas, and will be instructing Iranian women on how to cover themselves the right way. Routine hand checks will also be conducted to prevent any use of nail polish. The entire police force on dress code duty will be working overtime to cover every street in Iran, daily Vatan reported. Similar regulations have been applied in previous years as well, under which women could be released from custody upon signing a paper agreeing to dress “properly.” Several incidents of violent confrontations have taken place during patrols, according to media reports, including incidents where officers used force against women who objected to their claims. A woman can even face a prison sentence for refusing to change her dress following an official warning.Hmmm......"There is no humor in Islam. There is no fun in Islam. There can be no fun and joy in whatever is serious." ~ Ayatollah Khomeini.Read the full story here.