Felicia Roberts
Protests have broken out after a young woman, Mahsa Amini, aged 22 died due to injuries allegedly caused by authorities for not wearing a head veil correctly.
Police monitor “Bad Hijab”
On Tuesday 13th of September, Mahsa Amini, a Kurdish 22-year-old woman, was travelling with her family to visit a relative. However, this trip was cut short when she was arrested by a police unit that monitors women’s clothing and was taken to the station in order to take “re-education classes” on the hijab. The arrest was due to improper wearing of a headscarf and improper covering of arms and legs which is mandatory in Iran no matter a person’s religion.
Accusations
On the 15th, the Tehran police force announced that Amini suffered “sudden heart failure” and was rushed to hospital, only to pass away the next day.
On the other hand, witnesses say they saw police officers beating Amini inside their van whilst on the way to the police station. These accusations have been denied by Brigadier general, Hossein Rahimi, who described them as “cowardly actions”.
After the news story broke out, CCTV footage of the altercation was released. It allegedly showed the victim being spoken to by a female official who grabbed her clothing, followed by Amini holding her head and falling to the ground.
An interior minister has said that Amini had “previous physical problems” but the victim’s family have disagreed.
Women’s outrage
With good reason, women across Iran are distressed and frightened which has lead to protests not only in the country’s capital city, Tehran, but also online.
Women gathered in the streets and bravely burned their head coverings whilst chanting “death to the dictator” in reference to the Supreme Leader of Iran, Ali Khamenei.
Meanwhile, on social media women are cutting their hair off in solidarity with Mahsa Amini and all other previous victims of the controlling laws which lead to brutality against women.
https://www.tiktok.com/@redrivergost/video/7145374298553961774?is_copy_url=1&is_from_webapp=v1&refer=embed
Due to these videos attracting attention from all over the world, there is a chance Iran’s internet has been shutdown to silence citizens.
Education
These inhumane events have inspired education across social media platforms especially on TikTok.
Some girls are posting videos titled “Get ready with me to get killed in Iran”.
Others are sharing videos of the history of the hijab in Iran and what Iran looked like before the mandatory dress code laws.
So how can we help Iranian People?
We need to amplify Persian voices by using our own when they are being silenced.
https://www.tiktok.com/@mahsa__amini/video/7146216084796902698?is_copy_url=1&is_from_webapp=v1&refer=embed
