Demonstrators hold placards outside the Iranian Embassy in London, Sunday, Sept. 25, 2022. (Image from AP, Alastair Grant)
Over the past 3 years, the nation of Iran has continuously seen protests stake stage in the global news. In 2019, what started as a protest against a spike in fuel prices, quickly turned into bloody demonstrations against an overall anger against the claimed corruption against the government. But this time, things have changed for the people of Iran; rather than fighting against the country’s corruption, they are fighting for justice and the rights of the Iranian women.
These protests sparked when Mahsa Amini, a 22 year old woman in Iran, was severely beaten by Iran’s morality police on Tuesday, September 13, for not following Iran’s strict dress code for women. She was brought to a government owned hospital in a coma, where she died 3 days later, on 9/16. Government officials say that Mahsa died of a heart attack, but her family denies their claim. Mahsa’s family states that she was not cared for well in the hospital, which in turn caused her to die of her injuries.
The morality police in Iran has been around since 1980, and was established after the Iran-Iraq war. It was created to more strictly enforce the Muslim dress code, which greatly affected women more than men. Any person who violated the dress code would be arrested and beaten. Critics doubt the Iranian census that states that 99.4% of Iranians are Muslim, due to the extreme measures taken to convert the people to the religion (U.S. Department Of State).
The day Amini’s death was confirmed, the people of Iran, both men and women, flooded the streets in protest of violence and oppression against women. While students and teachers nationwide went on strike, shouting things like “death to the dictator” at Tehran university, women have been recorded burning their hijabs (the Muslim religious headscarf) and cutting their hair. Many women who are seen in viral videos participating in these protests have been sought out and killed by the government.
Unfortunately, it has been a struggle to attain knowledge of the Iranian government’s brutality during the protests, as the Iranian leaders have banned social media, and have said they will not lift the ban until the protests cease. Even with the restrictions, the people of Iran have found ways to show the cruelty of the government and their morality police to the protesters. As of October 5th, it was confirmed that over 133 protesters were killed. One such protester was Hadis Najafi, a 20 year old woman, who was shot 6 times in the chest due to protesting without a hijab on. This is only one of many heartbreaking stories from the protests, yet their deaths are only fueling the fire.
Through the protests, the women who have participated in the protests have shown no signs of fear. On Wednesday 10/5, a group of 3 Iranian women rolled out a banner over a highway that displayed a picture of a woman whose hair was down and not covered with a head scarf, with text at the bottom that read in Farsi “The next one is us,” (referring to the women killed in the protests) as they took off their headscarves and swung them in the air. They were willing to die for the cause, and wanted the world to know how they truly feel. Everyone can clearly see that this is not the same as the protests that have happened in the past; this is different. These Iranians are going to see the changes they desire, no matter what it takes.
Sources: https://pastebin.com/PdLj3PTf
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