Confronting Moral Police on IRIB

I ran across a very interesting interview which took place on Iran's official Jaam-e Jam (IRIB) network with a young host grilling a official from the Islamic Republic police force tasked with upholding "moral security."

The clip is in Persian (unfortunately no subtitles), but it was a very interesting few minutes. We often think of all organs of the Iranian government as "sticking to the script" -- i.e. just praising all the policies and actions of the Islamic Republic. However, as the clip below demonstrates, there is a wide variety of opinions and outlooks, even within the government and its personel.

The young host is essentially telling the police commander that the method of Iranian police in enforcing moral behavior (telling people to wear better clothing, breaking up un-married couples, etc.) is way over the top. The style of confronting immoral behavior is wrong, says the host, not that immoral behavior should be allowed to go unchecked by the Iranian police. The host recounts personal stories of how he and others were treated like petty criminals instead of like regular citizens. If the role of the moral police is to guide people on the right path, then treating people roughly is not the right way to go about it.

I think he raises some good points.