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In 2003 the first group of female cadets graduated from Iran’s police
academy. Tehran’s police chief Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf—now the
mayor of Tehran—had obtained permission from the country’s spiritual
leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, to create the all-female police units, and
these policewomen were the products of a three-year training program. Abbas
Kowsari was allowed to photograph the academy’s graduation ceremony in
2005, a dramatic pageant, and a historical anomaly. “During Qalibaf’s time as
police chief,” the photographer said, “policewomen performed many martial
arts and chase routines, including climbing walls and jumping out of the windows of moving cars. But after he stepped down, that training was eliminated.
Last year’s ceremony was limited to a parade, speeches, target practice, and the
loading of revolvers by blindfolded policewomen graduates. No photographers
were allowed.”
To see the rest of Abbas Kowsari's photographs from the Fall 2008 issue, click the link below:
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