92 Dead, Artists Held, Athletes in Black: Refusing to Die Down, What's Stoking Iran Stir & Will it Change?
Videos of Iranian women burning their hijabs, cutting their hair and protestors chanting 'death to the dictator' have surfaced on the internet over the last few weeks, inviting solidarity from people across the world
At least 92 people have been killed in Iran as women-led protests sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini stretched into a third week. The protests have refused to die down even as Iranian authorities cracked down on protestors, with several arrests and detentions being reported and close to a hundred dying in clashes. Videos of Iranian women burning their hijabs, cutting their hair and protestors chanting ‘death to the dictator’ have surfaced on the internet over the last few weeks, inviting solidarity from people across the world.
Protests erupted after 22-year-old Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini was arrested by Iran’s notorious morality police in Tehran because she was wearing a loose hijab and her hair could be seen. She was detained on September 13, and three days later she died, allegedly of a ‘heart attack’. Her family alleged that she had no history of heart disease and had succumbed to injuries she got after her arrest.
related stories
Her death once again put the spotlight on the stringent, oppressive laws and dress code for women in Iran and the country’s police brutality.
A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE HIJAB IN IRAN AND ITS MORALITY POLICE
Wearing the hijab was made compulsory for Iranian women following the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Before the revolution, as pro-Islamic and anti-monarchy sentiments were on the rise, many women consciously adopted headscarves or all-encompassing chadors.
However, once it was made compulsory, resistance was almost immediate. After Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khomeini said women should observe Islamic dress codes in 1979 there were fiery protests, leading the government to say his comments were only a recommendation. It became law in 1983, a report by Euronews says.
Despite the threat of arrest, millions of Iranian women actively oppose the hijab, wearing it loosely around their heads and often letting the headscarf fall to their shoulders.
The country’s ‘morality police’ called gasht-e ershad (guidance patrols) was established formally in the 90s to enforce strict Islamic dress codes. They regularly prowl streets, detaining people who do not fit the dress code. This could be anything from their hair showing, to their pants being too tight. Between 1979 and 1990, when the morality police was formally set up, there was a great deal of pressure on women, often by people in the streets or by random members of the police forces, an NPR podcast episode noted.
Even as the morality police came under fire following recent protests, and has reportedly ‘disappeared from the streets’, clashes against their enforcing have been a regular issue. According to a report by the BBC, in the capital Tehran alone, more than 35 female protesters were arrested between December 2017 and May 2018. Women who take part in anti-hijab protests face up to ten years in prison, according to the police. Instances of brutality and abuse by the morality police have not only been reported but also recorded and shared widely.
A woman was grabbed and slapped by a female morality police officer in Tehran in April 2018 because of her loose headscarf, the BBC report stated. The incident, filmed and shared on Masih Alinejad’s Instagram, was viewed by over 3 million people and received over 30,000 comments.
View this post on Instagram
WHY THE PROTESTS REFUSE TO DIE DESPITE CRACKDOWNS
The recent protests refuse to die down in Iran despite a stringent crackdown by the government, as public anger has finally erupted. Solidarity rallies have been held worldwide, with demonstrations in more than 150 cities on Saturday. Artists, public figures and regular people have all joined in to support Iranian women.
After videos of women burning their headscarves, cutting their hair and chanting ‘death to the dictator’ surfaced over the last few weeks, Iranian women have started stepping out without the hijabs. Iranian security forces arrested a woman after a photo of her and another woman eating at a Tehran restaurant without their head scarves was widely circulated online, CNN reported on Friday.
In recent days, security forces have reportedly detained several influential Iranians, including writer and poet Mona Borzouei, Iranian football player Hossein Mahini, and the daughter of former Iranian President Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, Faezeh Rafsanjani, who have been vocal about supporting the protests, the report states. Oscar winning filmmaker Asghar Farhadi made a video urging artists worldwide to show solidarity to the protests.
View this post on Instagram
Artist Shervin Hajipour, whose music clip in support of the popular protests gained millions of views, was reportedly arrested on Thursday. Hajipour transformed slogans and tweets related to the protests, into a song, which had garnered more than 40 million views on Instagram. The authorities did not confirm his arrest, although they said they would take “measures against celebrities who contributed to fueling the riots," according to the governor of Tehran, as per Siasat.
In addition to filmmakers, actors and musicians, athletes have also voiced their support for the protests. Iranian football players wore black tracksuits during the national anthem before their match with Senegal in Vienna. Unable to speak publicly, Iran’s players prepared for their final tuneup game in Austria with what amounted to a silent protest instead, as per the New York Times.
Meanwhile, thousands came out in support of Iranian women in rallies across countries like Turkey, Canada, USA, and France over the weekend.
WILL THINGS CHANGE IN IRAN?
While Iranian leaders have vowed to investigate the circumstances of Amini’s death, they also accused unnamed foreign countries and exiled opposition groups of seizing on it as a pretext to foment unrest. That’s been a common pattern during protests in recent years, the Associated Press said.
The governor of Tehran said Wednesday that authorities arrested three foreign nationals at protests in the capital, without elaborating. At some of the demonstrations, protesters clashed with police and thick clouds of tear gas were seen rising Tehran. Protesters were also chased and beaten with clubs by the motorcycle-riding Basij, who are volunteers in Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, and have been known to violently suppress protests in the past, as per AP.
ALSO READ: Iranian Women Roar Against Hijab Rules After Mahsa Amina’s Death: News18 Explains Row & Protests
Meanwhile hardliner President Ebrahim Raisi on Sunday said that the “enemies" of Iran had “failed in their conspiracy". On Friday the intelligence ministry said nine foreign nationals — including from France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Poland — had been arrested.
However, Iran’s ruling clerics have weathered several waves of protests going back decades, eventually quashing them with brute force, the AP said. The most serious challenge to the clerics’ rule was the Green Movement that emerged after the country’s disputed presidential election in 2009 and called for far-reaching reforms. Millions of Iranians took to the streets. Authorities responded with a brutal crackdown, with the Revolutionary Guard and the Basij militia opening fire on protesters and launching waves of arrests.
- Location :
- First Published: