The death of a young woman at the hands of the Morale Police unleashes anger that goes from Iranian Kurdistan to the streets of Tehran
Iran experienced its third day of nationwide protests over the death of Masha Amini, known as Zhina, at the hands of the Moral Police. Iranian Kurdistan, the area where Amini was from, was the epicenter of mobilizations in which at least two protesters were killed by police shots, according to different Kurdish media, and they were accompanied by a day of general strike. The anger spread to the streets and universities of Tehran where marches and sit-ins took place, to which the security forces responded with riot gear.
There has long been a huge disconnect between the regime and an important part of the population, especially the youngest. Many no longer believe the words of the police that speak of “an unfortunate accident” to explain the death of this 22-year-old woman arrested last week in Tehran for not wearing her hijab properly. Tehran Police Commander Hossein Rahimi lamented that “cowardly accusations have been launched against us.” Amini’s family maintained their accusation against the Moral Police and her father told the Rudaw channel that her daughter’s body had “marks of beatings and torture.”
“Justice, freedom and no to compulsory hijab”, was the most chanted slogan in the mobilizations of the capital of which images and videos were arriving through social networks throughout the day. From Kurdistan it was very difficult to obtain information because the authorities cut off the internet service as they usually do every time they have security problems.
Comparisons with 2009
Comparisons between the current moment in the Islamic republic and the one experienced after the 2009 elections, during the so-called “green revolution”, did not take long to appear on the networks, especially due to the magnitude of the marches that could be seen in the capital. The journalist and writer Behrouz Boochani, however, thinks that “these are different times because in 2009 reforms were called for, now people take to the streets to demand a total change of the system.” Boochani further highlights that thirteen years ago “the protest was focused on Tehran, while now the Kurdistan movement and the feminist movement are the two main parties.”
The protests in the streets are accompanied by a great mobilization on social networks in which Iranian women share videos in which they remove their headscarves and cut their hair to show their discontent with the obligation to cover themselves in the streets. The hijab has been compulsory in Iran since the Islamic republic’s triumph in 1979 and in the last month President Ebrahim Raisi has ordered the Morale Police to tighten controls to ensure that women respect the correct dress code.
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