THE UPRISING OF IRAN’S COUNTER-REVOLUTION

Jina Mahsa Amini.

Three months ago, very few knew the aspiring 22-year old lawyer. Now, her name is a clarion call for women’s rights in Iran and more generally a warning sign for all of humanity about the perils of absolute power and how that can tear apart one’s fundamental human rights.

Just like 9/11, 9/13 will be etched in memory especially for Iranians and for its brave women in particular, it was the events of Sept. 13 that galvanized one of the biggest movements for justice in Iran. On this day, Amini was arrested and taken into custody by the Iranian morality police for “inappropriate attire”, with the offenses including having incorrectly worn her hijab and for sporting skinny jeans. 

Three days later Amini was dead after falling into a coma. Police denied that she was beaten while in custody, and said she suffered a heart attack. Her father later said she had bruises on her legs and blamed the police for her death.

The clumsy and ambiguous explanations by the authorities about how Amini died, and the reasons for her arrests, stoked growing anger over Iran’s mistreatment of women and prompted spontaneous protests against the country’s strict Islamic regulations.. 

Let’s pause for a moment to consider some of these regulations and the harrowing reality for women in Iran - one where the issue goes far beyond the Islamic Penal Code mandating women to wear the Hijab. 

Women cannot easily divorce their husbands. 

Women cannot leave the country without their husband’s permission. 

Women’s child custody rights are severely restricted.

Women cannot sing or dance in public.

Women are banned from using bicycles in public.

Women cannot be appointed to key government or political positions such as run for  president or become judges.

Women can be forced into marriages at the minimum legal age of 13.

Women’s education rights are restricted. 

In the darkness of tragedy and death that befell Amini, she still managed to give voice for the nation’s long-suffering women, rousing them into protests that swept across Iran. Many women tore up their headscarves, chanting “Woman, Life, Freedom” as they risked arrests and retaliation by the Iranian security, especially the dreaded Islamic Revolutionary Guards. School girls, children and men joined in the protests in the toughest challenge to clerical rulers since the 1979 revolution. 

It didn’t take long before the security forces started cracking down on protesters, which spurred a further wave of defiance against the Iranian leaders as demonstrators torched police stations and vehicles in the capital Tehran and other cities. On Sept. 30 Amnesty International reported that security forces killed 66 people, including children in the southeastern city of Zahedan, in the deadliest day since the protests began.

The death toll has continued to mount in the weeks and months that followed, with some estimates suggesting hundreds more had been killed by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and the security forces in the most violent suppression seen in decades. It is hard to verify the precise scale of the tragedy but it is fair to say that numerous lives have been lost so far as Iran’s leaders sought to push back against the many demands made by the protesters to free women from the shackles of restrictive and highly discriminatory laws. 

The government has denied that it is deliberately or indiscriminately killing protestors and has refuted accusations that it was responsible for the children’s deaths. But the denials by the authorities have been dismissed by women’s rights groups, and social media posts by numerous people inside Iran suggest the government was carrying out targeted reprisals. 

On November 24th, the United Nations Human Rights Council held a special session which condemned the surging violence in Iran and established a fact-finding mission to investigate the country’s ongoing human rights atrocities. A week later, Iran’s public prosecutor surprised everyone with the news that the morality police have been shut down. However, there has been no official confirmation of this while authorities have said the hijab law will be enforced through other methods. 

On Dec. 14, Iran was ousted from a United Nations women’s group for contravening the rights of women and girls, a move proposed by the United States in the wake of Tehran’s crackdown on protests over Amini’s death in custody. 

Iran has accused the West and traitors at home of fomenting the unrest.

Yet, if we stand back from the politics and noise, one fact rings out loud and clear. Amini’s death has sparked a bold movement in Iran for change; change in the way Iran treats its women and girls, change for the better to empower these brave souls.

For those of us who take so much of our freedom for granted, or are too busy to stop and reflect on some of the harsh realities endured by millions around the world, the aftermath of Amini's short life should serve as a reminder to everyone that "silence in the face of injustice is complicity with the oppressor."    

Fortunately, there are some social justice storytellers who call attention to such complacency.