When the Iranian moral police shoot a boxing champion defending his wife

Published on: 06/22/2022 – 12:26 Modified on: 06/23/2022 – 15:50 A remark about an allegedly ill-fitting veil started it all: images that emerged on June 11 but date back to April 28 testify of the violent altercation between, on the one hand, the Iranian moral police and, on the other, the former boxer Reza Moradkhani and his wife Maria Arefi, also a boxer. Coming to defend it, the sportsman received four bullets in the body. A new overflow of the “Gasht-e Ershad”, in charge of morals in the Islamic Republic. Reza Moradkhani, former champion of Iran and Asia, had to spend twelve hours in the operating room and today finds himself partially paralyzed following the four bullets he received during his altercation with the police Iranian morality, at the end of April in a park in Tehran. The facts were only revealed in Iranian media in early June by the athlete’s defense. Justice had requested this silence before declassifying the file. The couple and their lawyers decided to speak out after discovering that the moral police “lied” in their report and accused the boxer and his partner of rebellion.” Your colleague is talking about my wife, how Wouldn’t that be my business? That’s not what happened, said Maria Arefi on June 11 in Shargh, one of the main Iranian newspapers, close to the reformist camp. We were walking in Pardisan Park. Suddenly, a moral police vehicle stopped next to us and a policewoman asked me for my identity card number, telling me that she wanted to check that there was no moral offense registered on my name. I was shocked and said to them, “You just have to google my name and my husband’s name to find out who we are. We are not criminals, there is no need to have my identity number.” My husband felt offended and asked them, “What do you mean when you say check if my wife has any moral offenses registered in her name?” There, a policeman got out of the vehicle and said to my husband, “Step away, it’s none of your business.” My husband replied, “Your colleague is talking about my wife, why is that none of my business?” Finally, to avoid having problems especially because our 1 year old daughter was with us, we apologized. But the policeman insulted me. My husband asked him to be polite and suddenly the policeman sprayed him with pepper spray. He was blinded and the officer took his gun and fired in the air, then shot him, while the other officer shouted “Don’t shoot, don’t shoot”. Ten live ammunition was fired. Reza Moradkhani received four, in the back, stomach and leg. یک ماه پیش مأمورهای گشت ارشاد برای همسر #رضا_مرادخانی مدال آور بوکس آسیا مزاحمت ایجاد کردند و سپس به خود رضا دوبار شلیک کردند، حالا با سناریو سازی، در حال سرپوش گذاشتن بر روی این پرونده هستند.— توماج صالحی🌋 (@OfficialToomaj) June 11, 2022 For Iranian rapper Toomaj: “A month ago, Gasht-e-Ershad officers shot Reza, a boxing champion who was defending his wife and now they are setting him up for end the process.” The Arefi and Moradkhani families assured that the policeman had taken almost all the telephones of the witnesses, to reset them in order to be sure to erase any image documenting the facts. Only a photo and a video could still emerge. Reza Moradkhani, after being shot and handcuffed by police. Photo published on June 11. © Observers Victims say they have paid all required fines. According to the couple, the Commander-in-Chief of the Moral Police apologized to them. But they say they discovered, through their lawyer, that the policeman who fired the shots had lied in his report, assuring that Maria Arefi was not wearing a veil and was walking around with a short-sleeved outfit, reasons which would have justified the intervention. of the moral police, in charge of monitoring in particular the outfits worn by the Iranian women and the adjustment of their veil. Many witnesses, including medical personnel who came in the ambulance that evacuated Reza Moradkhani, say the accusations are false. The stakes are high: Maria Arefi can get up to two months in prison for being “unveiled” and her husband up to three years for “rebellion”, because he is accused of having wanted take the policeman’s pepper spray. Hit four times by the policeman’s shots, Reza Moradkhani escapes with heavy injuries. He also told Shargh: I make a living out of boxing, I can’t fight or train anyone for at least another year because of my physical situation. We simply want justice, for the police to recognize the truth and for the policeman to receive the maximum legal sentence. Serial excesses The “Gasht-e Ershad” is known for its excesses. Several cases have been filmed by citizens and have sometimes even been relayed to the international media. In 2018, the video of a policeman fighting with a young girl caused an outcry. Since the Islamic revolution of 1979, many women have defied the obligation to wear the veil, in demonstrations, by wearing the veil far , or by promoting their freedom of choice. In 2019, Iranian authorities sentenced Saba Kord Afshari and Yasaman Ariani to five years in prison for their anti-hijab activities. Yasaman Ariani’s mother was also sentenced on the same grounds, but more heavily, with a nine-year prison sentence.