"Your Islam denounced her, and now you have come to pray for her? Are you not ashamed of yourselves? You killed her for 2 strands of hair. Take your Islam and go."
--Mahsa Amini's Father
Over a month ago, 22-year-old Mahsa Amini set foot on Tehran to visit her relatives. Unbeknownst to her, this was the last time she ever saw them as later she would be arrested for not wearing her hijab the proper way and later died in the hospital.
The death of Mahsa Amini sparked a big rally in Trafalgar Square in London late last month, following multiple demonstrations in front of Iranian embassy in September and October, protesting over Iranian government's brutality against women for the many years. In contrast to previous protests, some of which turned violent, protestors sang, danced, talked to spectators and remained peaceful and friendly throughout the entire protest.
The message from the demonstration was clear: “Zan, Zendegi, Azadi” (Women, Life, Freedom), as many women participated and chose to free their hair to show their determination of liberating women of Iran from compulsory hijabs imposed since 1979.
Amini's tragic story was not the first incident but the last straw on years of oppression on Iranian people, as there have been many cases of women abused by the morality police whose presence has been said to be “an example of how the states will take women's rights and abuse them,” an article from National Public Radio says.
Even doctors who supported the protest and treated wounded protestors in Iran were “killed by state security forces, and at least six others being arbitrarily arrested at peaceful protests in Tehran,” according to the Center for Human Rights in Iran. Protestors in London also demanded the government to release these doctors.
"For 44 years, this Islamic regime (has been) torturing, executing, imprisoning people without any reasons…they're killing people on the streets just because they're demonstrating, and it's not fair."
--Protestor in London protest
Amini's death took over social media overnight which started a chain reaction with hashtags such as #MahsaAmini or #IranRevolution and quickly gained attention from media all over the world.
Most Gen Z active on Tiktok used the platform to their advantage and started trends such as cutting off a lock of hair or burning their hijabs as a sign of protesting over unfair treatment on Iranian women.
"You won't be allowed to get an education from the age of seven if you take off your headscarf. You won't be allowed to get a job. You won't be allowed to live in your own country."
--Masih Alinejad
The last Iranian protest against mandatory hijab dated back to 2014, when Iranian journalist Masih Alinejad started an online movement My Stealthy Freedom and urged women in Iran to post photos of themselves without scarves.
Alinejad quickly gained success on social media and received over 1 million likes on Facebook, which prompted her to launch more campaigns such as the White Wednesdays, where women would wear white clothes on Wednesdays and not wear hijabs, and with the selected color they could identify and support each other.
Her success made her a key figure in fighting for Iranian women's right but also a target of misinformation from the Iranian state television, and in 2021, an assassination attempt was believed to be carried out by Iranian intelligence agents, which was intercepted by the FBI.
Road to Equality
Women's right movements started as early as the 19th century, but the real breakthrough did not appear until the 1960s, when White Revolution happened and women were finally allowed to vote, enter public offices and run for parliament seats.
With the success of the political reform, the WOI (Women's Organization of Iran) was also founded, and its goal was “to encourage women's education for change, to work towards securing economic independence for women.”
Through decades of efforts, the WOI substantially raised Iranian school girls' literacy and successfully granted women the equal right in marriage and divorce.
"Suddenly, the Revolution happens, and they (women) are not allowed to work certain jobs, polygamy becomes legal, women lose the right to divorce, and the right to travel without permission of the husband is taken away."
--Mansoureh Shojaee
After Revolution
After 1979, with the Islamic Republic of Iran formed and the old monarchy exiled, seemingly all the Iranian people were cheerful, but not all of them. Women of Iran were stripped of their many rights granted prior to the revolution.
The imposition of compulsory hijab stoked the anger and led to women marching down the streets to protest against then president Ruhollah Khomeini's discriminatory law.
The compulsory hijab law states that “women who do not wear a hijab may be imprisoned from ten days to two months” and gave birth to the religious police, which later became the morality police that arrested Amini.
From Signatures to Taking Off Hijabs
From 2006 to 2008, One Million Signatures Campaign activists aimed to collect one million signatures to demand Iranian government abolish discriminatory laws against women, such as polygamy, and strengthen women's power by giving them equal rights in marriage and inheritance.
The campaign gained partial success when it pressured the “Parliament to amend the inheritance law in 2008, giving women the right to inherit their husband's property,” according to Tavaana. However, the authority had been attempting to silence the campaign since the beginning and had arrested over 50 activists, some of whom are still jailed to this date.
The movement for women's rights has been ongoing for over 60 years, but Iranian women still suffer from unjust treatment and biased laws. It is difficult for someone like me, a man and whose country has relatively high gender equality, to understand the suffering when the news of Mahsa Amini's death first broke out.
It has become very obvious why men and women in Iran were infuriated because they knew very well this was not the first time and will never be the last. Despite claiming Amini died due to heart problems, the Iranian government has not yet addressed the core issue that started the movement, which according to Masih Alinejad in one recent interview, “They are not fighting against compulsory hijab; they are fighting against gender apartheid because compulsory hijab is like the Berlin wall. If we tear this wall down, the Islamic Republic won't exist.”
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