نیروی انتظامی

What it is

نیروی انتظامی جمهوری اسلامی ایران (niru-ye entezâmi-ye jomhuri-ye eslâmi-ye Irân), the Law Enforcement Force of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Formed in 1991 from the merger of three earlier bodies: the Shahrbâni (the urban police inherited from the Pahlavi era), the Gendarmerie (rural police), and the post-revolution Komiteh (revolutionary committees). Originally abbreviated NAJA. Renamed FARAJA (Niru-ye Entezâmi-ye Farmândehi-e Kol-e Jomhuri-ye Eslâmi-ye Irân) on 11 December 2021 by decree of Supreme Leader Khamenei, who used the rename to elevate the police commander to the same protocol rank as the Army and IRGC commanders.

The mechanics

FARAJA includes traffic police, criminal investigation, border guards, drug enforcement, cyber police (FATA), economic-crimes police, and gasht-e ershâd. The commander is appointed by the Supreme Leader. He reports operationally up the General Staff of the Armed Forces, which also reports to the Supreme Leader. The civilian Interior Minister has formal cabinet authority but operational control sits elsewhere. During protest cycles FARAJA coordinates with the IRGC and Basij; the firing line shooting protesters in Mahsa-protest videos is sometimes FARAJA, sometimes Basij, sometimes IRGC, often a mix.

Sanctions and designations

The US Treasury sanctioned the Iranian morality police (under FARAJA) on 22 September 2022. Treasury added the FARAJA cyber police (FATA) and senior FARAJA commanders in subsequent rounds for human-rights violations. The EU has sanctioned FARAJA leadership figures. The UK has imposed asset freezes on senior commanders.

In our voice

FARAJA is the institution that ran the patrols that arrested Mahsa Jina Amini. It is the institution that ran the snipers who shot Kian Pirfalak, age 9, in Izeh in November 2022 (the regime tried to blame “terrorists”; the family said FARAJA, and the regime quietly dropped the lie). It is the institution that ran the units that shot Khodanour Lojei in Zahedan during the September 2022 protests. It is the institution whose cyber arm (FATA) tracks down anonymous Twitter accounts and arrests their owners. The 2021 rename was a promotion. Khamenei elevated the police rank because he wanted the police to share authority with the Sepâh during the next crackdown, and the next one happened ten months later. The police force you grew up calling “the police” in any normal country is not what FARAJA is. FARAJA is one more arm of the Supreme Leader’s office, in a uniform that says “police.”

Why it’s in this glossary

Because in Persian-language news the word “police” means something specific that does not map to “police” in a parliamentary democracy. The chain of command runs to one office. The morality police are a department of the police. Naming this clearly matters when reading Iranian news.

How to use it

• نیروی انتظامی (niru-ye entezâmi) “the police force” (still common in speech)
• فراجا اعلام کرد (FARAJA e’lâm kard) “FARAJA announced” (the post-2021 official acronym)
• پلیس فتا (police-e FATA) “FATA cyber police”

References

• Dehkhoda: entezâmi
• Wikipedia, Law Enforcement Command of the Islamic Republic of Iran
• US Treasury, sanctions on Iran morality police, 22 September 2022
• Amnesty International, killing of Kian Pirfalak, December 2022
• Iran Human Rights Monitor, killing of Khodanour Lojei, October 2022