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TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran's state TV is reporting that the country's president has criticized the morality police's use of violence against women failing to observe the national Islamic dress code.
Hassan Rouhani's condemnation came after such an incident in Tehran was caught on video and went viral on social media channels.
Rouhani said Saturday that "promoting virtue and preventing vice" — the morality police's stated mandate — through violence is impractical. "Grabbing people's collars (to) promote virtue will not work," he said.
Iran's interior minister, Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli, had ordered authorities on Thursday to investigate the incident.
Lawmaker Tayebeh Siavoshi said Saturday that the female agent involved has been suspended from her job.
In December, Tehran's police said they will no longer arrest women not observing the Islamic dress code imposed in 1979.
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