Following the beating to death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in morality police custody in Tehran, Iran, an Iranian girl who came to visit her brother, for having a few strands of hair outside of her hijab, the world has been rocketed by protests demanding an end to the archaic and arbitrary 'Guidance Patrol' that came into force by Khamenei in 2005, and the fundamental right for women to choose what to wear. The words: 'Woman, Life, Freedom,' taken from Kurdish nationalism, has become the slogan for a movement that not only demands liberty and equal rights for women in Iran, but an end to the Islamic Republic.
It all began with a heartbreaking image of Mahsa's (Jina's) parents embracing in a hospital corridor, taken by Iranian journalist Niloofar Hamedi of reformist newspaper Shargh, who has subsequently been arrested. The picture, along with one of Mahsa lying in a coma, circulated like wildfire on social media leading to the hashtag #Mahsa_Amini garnering over 80 million mentions on Twitter, the most-ever on the platform. Famous faces including Pink Floyd frontman Roger Waters and photographer Amanda de Cadenet were amongst the first to share the story, as were media outlets Sky News, BBC and British Vogue.
What followed is a revolution across Iran the likes of which have not been seen since the fraudulent re-election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in 2009 that saw 3 million take to the streets in what was dubbed the 'Green Movement.' Videos of brave Iranian women walking the streets without the compulsory headscarf, burning them on bonfires, a lady with a chādor writing 'death to dictator' on the wall and two ladies eating breakfast with their hair, arms and ankles showing (they were later arrested), can be seen in recordings and images sent to journalists Masih Alinejad and Ahmad Batebi. Men have also joined the uprising including shaving their heads and an elderly man chanting 'Azadi' (Freedom).
What is interesting about this fight is that it is not only being led by women, but by Gen Z women, particularly school girls in Iran who have heroically been giving the middle finger to pictures of Khomeini and Khamenei, waving their hijabs in the air and shouting 'Azadi' and stamping on photos of clerics while chanting 'rapists', 'murders' and 'death to this dictatorship.'
The regime cut access to the internet like they did in the November '19 uprising that saw 1,500 massacred on the streets of Iran in 3 days, including 27-year-old Pouya Bakhtiari,who's father is in jail for asking the authorities why they murdered his son. In a video recorded on Pouya's phone moments before he was shot, the electrical engineering graduate can be heard saying: 'Bravo to everyone! People don't lose this opportunity to once and for all destroy this criminal and corrupt regime which has pillaged our beloved Iran for 40 years.' To date, 244 protestors have been killed, including 32 children, with 12,516 arrested, according to Iran's Human Rights Activist News Agency (HRANA), in demonstrations that have swept across 114 cities and towns and some 81 universities. Videos on social media show the Sepāh shooting directly at protestors, beating and dragging Iranians, a woman's body riddled with birdshot and bullets and tear gas on the roads. An Instagram post shared by Amnesty Iran shows 'some of the men, women & children killed by Iran's security forces because they dared to dream for a life with rights & freedoms.'
Among the dead are five young girls by the names of Hadis Najafi, 23, Hannaneh Kia, 22, Mahsa Mougouyi, 18, Sarina Esmailzadeh, 16, and Nika Shakarami, 16, the last of whom was singing and dancing before she was beaten, raped and her body stolen by the IRGC thugs.
The West has shown solidarity with one viral act being cutting one's hair, a message to the clerics that: 'If it’s the hair that is bothering you — if it’s the hair you want — here you go,' as explained by Mr. Akbari of the Institute for War & Peace Reporting to The New York Times. Swedish-Iraqi MEP Abir Alsahlani notably cut her hair during a speech at the European Parliament on 4th October, saying: 'The hands of the regime of the mullahs in Iran is stained with blood. Neither history, no Allah or God Almighty will forgive you for the crimes against humanity that you are committing against your own citizens . . . Until Iran is free, our fury will be bigger than the oppressors. Until the women of Iran are free, we are going to stand with you. Jin, Jiyan, Azadi. Women, Life, Freedom.' Over 50 French actresses filmed themselves cutting their hair, including Juliette Binoche, Marion Cotillard, Charlotte Gainsbourg and her mother Jane Birkin. Freedom rallies have also taken place including one in Berlin that saw 80,000 descend on Brandenburg Gate holding placards saying: 'Close the embassy of the child killer regime' and 'Khamenei = Hitler.'
Politicians have spoken out including U.S. President Joe Biden who in a speech at Irvine Valley College, California, said: 'I look over there and I see free Iran' and '[women] should be able to wear in God’s name what they wanna wear,' Hilary Clinton at Variety's Power of Women dinner called Iran 'a horrific regime,' former President Trump at a 'Save America' rally in Nevada said: 'As we speak, the people of Iran are bravely protesting against their corrupt and brutal regime, courageously facing down violence, persecution, jail, torture and even death,' and previous U.S. Ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley, tweeted: 'Nearly a month into these protests, Iranians are still on the streets . . . They know nothing is worth more than freedom and they're willing to die for it. I support their fight against the ayatollahs.' The Obamas dedicated International Day of the Girl to 'the courageous Iranian women and girls,' with Barack going on 'Pod Save America' to admit his silence over the Green Movement was wrong: 'In a retrospect, I think that was a mistake. Every time we see a flash, a glimmer of hope, of people longing for freedom, I think we have to point it out. We have to shine a spotlight on it. We have to express some solidarity about it.' Comedian Chelsea Hart criticised the Western governments' red carpets for the families of the clerics who have with Iran's money purchased homes and assets in the West, and can be seen in private members' clubs like Annabel's in London, as exposed by political YouTuber Mahyar Tousi.
Khamenei pinned the protests on America and Israel in a tweet on 3rd October: 'I openly state that the recent riots & unrest in Iran were schemes designed by the US; the usurping, fake Zionist regime; their mercenaries; & some treasonous Iranians abroad who helped them.' The 83-year-old also compared the revolution in Iran to riots that take place around the world, 'Especially in France, massive riots occur every now and then.'
I openly state that the recent riots & unrest in Iran were schemes designed by the US; the usurping, fake Zionist regime; their mercenaries; & some treasonous Iranians abroad who helped them.
The world has woken up to the atrocities that have been going on in Iran, and as British-Iranian designer Paria Farzaneh writes for British Vogue: 'It's so important that we stay awake.'
