Aaliyah Fooks
The women-led protests flared after Mahsa Amini died in the custody of the morality police for reportedly not observing the Islamic Republic’s strict dress code.
On 16th September, the 22-year-old Kurdish woman was killed in custody after being detained by the morality police for failing to wear a hijab, triggering widespread protests.
On Tuesday, Iranians staged the 12th night of protests over the death of Mahsa Amini, in defiance of a crackdown by the morality police that has reportedly resulted in the deaths of more than 75 people.
During the demonstration, the daughter of ex-president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani was arrested for inciting protests.
On day 3, several cities have joined anti-regime protests, including the city of #Divandareh, #Mahsa_Amini pic.twitter.com/qhNDtu81t4
— Rana Rahimpour (@ranarahimpour) September 19, 2022
What happened to Mahsa Amini?
On 14th September, Mahsa Amini was arrested by morality police in Tehran for failing to wear the compulsory hijab in public. She died in police custody three days later, with the Iranian authorities claiming she had suffered a heart attack. Eyewitnesses report witnessing the police beat her—which many believe resulted in her falling into a deadly coma.
Her family has confirmed that Mahsa had never previously suffered from a heart condition. Her father, Amjad Amini, claims that he was denied the right to view images of her arrest and was prohibited from seeing Mahsa’s body.
“I asked them to show me the body cameras of the security officers; they told me the cameras were out of battery,” he told BBC Persia.
However, the Director-General of Forensics in the Tehran province claimed that there were “no signs of head and facial injuries, no bruises around the eyes or fractures at the base of Mahsa Amini’s skull”.
Numerous human rights organisations, including Amnesty International, have called for further scrutiny, with President Ebrahim Raisi telling the UN General Assembly on 22nd September that “if her death were due to negligence, it would be investigated”.
On the same day, President Raisi—who condemned protestors for “acts of chaos”—cancelled a long-planned interview with Christiane Amanpour after she declined his last-minute request that she wear a headscarf.
40 minutes after the interview had been due to start, an aide came over. The president, he said, was suggesting I wear a headscarf, because it’s the holy months of Muharram and Safar. 3/7
— Christiane Amanpour (@amanpour) September 22, 2022
What are Iran’s laws concerning the hijab?
Iran first introduced legislation making the hijab mandatory in public in the early ’80s following the Islamic Revolution.
Dedicated morality police, known as Gasht-e Ershad, is tasked with ensuring female citizens wear both a headscarf and loose-fitting clothing. Revealing too much hair or wearing too much makeup can result in detainment by Ershad.
Often those deemed to violate modesty laws are taken to “reeducation centres”, the first of which opened in the 2010s. In these ‘centres’ detainees are made to attend classes about the tenets of Islam and sign pledges to dress more modestly in the future.
How has the Iranian public responded to Mahsa Amini’s death?
The Iranian government has responded with a brutal crackdown, deploying riot police officers armed with guns, water cannons, and batons.
Power has been cut in Tehran at night to discourage gatherings, and mobile service and wireless access have been disrupted. Platforms such as WhatsApp and Instagram are also reportedly blocked, leaving citizens and protesters to take to platforms like TikTok to appeal to the rest of the world.
Many in Iran are dubious about claims that Mahsa’s death occurred naturally. Demonstrations began in Kurdistan on 17th September after Mahsa’s funeral and rapidly spread across the country.
The protests have gained widespread attention for their feminist nature—several clips of Iranian citizens publicly burning their hijabs have gone viral. On TikTok, users posted videos of themselves cutting their hair in defiance.
The Global Response
As of 2nd October 2022, at least 133 protestors have been killed as a result of the government’s interventions in the protests, involving teargas and live rounds, making the protests the deadliest since the 2019–2020 protests that resulted in more than 1,500 fatalities.
The protests in Iran have sparked a global fuse, with others around the world protesting in solidarity with the women of Iran.
Under the slogan “women, life, liberty”, demonstrations have taken place in many major cities, including Auckland, London, Melbourne, New York, Paris, Ottawa, St. John’s, Montreal, Rome, Seoul, Stockholm, Sydney, and Zurich.
Featured image courtesy of Kai Schwerdt via Flickr. Image license found here. No changes were made to this image.
