1/31/2024 0 Comments Charah istanbul iran proudWe’ve been going out without it for the past 70 days. “We the protesters don’t care about ‘no hijab’ no more. “This corrupt regime will do anything to stay where they are,” a female protester told BBC News Hour on December 4. By September 18, protesters at the University of Iran were shouting what is now the protest’s slogan: “Woman, life, freedom,” in short, calling for the end of the regime. Already protesters were shouting “death to the dictator,” and women were removing their headscarves. News of Amini’s death spread quickly via social media, and her funeral erupted into protests according to Reuters, security forces fired tear gas at the demonstrators as protests quickly spread to Sanandaj, the regional capital. Any mother, from any religious background, from whatever type of family - and I think that’s why so many religious families are with the protesters - that could have been anyone’s daughter.” “She was completely covered and she died, so I think that’s what’s shaking about it. “There was nothing wrong with what she was wearing,” Azadeh Moaveni, an Iranian-American journalist and former head of the Gender and Conflict Program at the International Crisis Group, said on a November episode of the London Review of Books podcast. Police said it was due to a heart condition, but Amini’s family denied any heart problems, and her father claimed he saw bruises on Mahsa’s legs. Sometime between her arrest and September 16, when she died at Tehran’s Kasra hospital, she fell into a coma. Police alleged she was wearing her hijab incorrectly, and they were taking her into custody to “educate” her, as Reuters reported in October. The protests began with one young woman’s death in police custody, but quickly grew into a call to change the future of Iranian society.Īmini, who was also known by her Kurdish name Jina or Zhina, was taken into custody by the Guidance Patrol - Iran’s so-called morality police - on September 13 at a Tehran metro station. Women have led and become the public face of this movement - a particularly notable fact in 2022, given the ways that women have been repressed under the current regime.Īll of that, however, doesn’t mean that this movement will bring down the Islamic Republic decades of repression, a poor economic outlook, extremely limited opposition in the political establishment, plus the fact that the military and security service as well as the economic elite continue to throw their lot in with the regime make it difficult to imagine an alternative vision for the future of Iran. There are some ways this protest echoes past movements, but there are also key differences - not just the longevity, but the degree of societal cohesion and solidarity, too. The protests have gained momentum since they began in Amini’s hometown of Saqez, in Iranian Kurdistan, appearing in dozens of cities throughout the Islamic Republic despite the government’s efforts - including internet and mobile network disruptions, mass arrests, and civilian killings - to quash them. Amini, a 21-year old Kurdish woman, was arrested while in Tehran for allegedly wearing her hijab improperly since her death, she has become a potent symbol of many Iranians’ contempt for the country’s oppressive theocracy. The inciting spark for the now 11-week-long protests was the death of Mahsa Amini on September 16 while in the custody of Iran’s morality police. It’s also not clear what success looks like for the protesters should they somehow manage to topple the regime that’s had an iron grip on the nation since the 1979 revolution - or how they would manage to do so in the first place. But it’s not clear that the mass imprisonment, extrajudicial killings, and further possible state-sanctioned executions will deter the protesters who have for more than two months now defied crackdowns and curfews to call for an end to Khamenei’s regime. With Shekari’s execution - likely the first of dozens - the Iranian regime is reverting to a tried and tested playbook of executing political opponents and dissidents. Shekari was the first prisoner to be executed due to the recent unrest, in what Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, head of the Norway-based organization Iran Human Rights, characterized as a “show trial without any due process.” Executions began in December, when the regime executed 23-year-old Mohsen Shekari for the crime of “waging war against God,” or moharebeh in Farsi. For four months, protests have gripped Iran - protests that have not only been surprisingly durable, but also led primarily by women.Īctivists believe at least 16 people have been sentenced to death by the Islamic Republic, headed by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, for participating in the protests, according to the Associated Press.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |