Mahsa Amini: What's happening in Iran?
- Prisha
- Jan 16, 2023
- 4 min read
What: On September 13th, 2022, a 22-year-old Kurdish woman named Jina Mahsa Amini was arrested in Tehran, the capital of Iran by the Iranian morality police for "dressing inappropriately." The morality police is a religious police that enforces Iran's hijab mandate for all women as well as the Islamic dress code. There are no set rules as to what qualifies as "immodest"; people that the morality police determines to be wearing inappropriate clothing are either given a notice or in some cases, taken to a detention center to be "re-educated," where they must stay until they are brought "proper attire." The morality police is supposed to enforce this Sharia dress code for both men and women in public, but they have disproportionately targeted women in the past. It's unclear what Amini's exact crime was -- some sources say that she wasn't wearing her hijab properly, while others say that she was arrested for wearing trousers that were too tight. Nevertheless, she was put into a van and taken to a morality police detention center. Two hours after being detained there, she was transferred to a hospital in an ambulance. Her family received no explanation for this, and the hospital staff also did not let them see her or grant access to her CT scans.
She slipped into a coma, and three days later, she was proclaimed to be dead.
The police and coroner claimed that she had died because of a heart attack due to a pre-existing health condition. However, Amini's family denies that she had had any health conditions. Some of the women that were in the police van with Amini claimed that the police had beaten her while they were being transported to the detention center.
The hospital also posted on Instagram that they had tried their best to resuscitate her, but that she had been brain dead when she arrived. This post was later taken down.
Effects: Mahsa Amini's death caused an explosion of protests all across Iran. The protests began around September 19th, 2022. Women showed resistance by recording themselves burning their government-mandated hijab including more conservative members of the Iranian parliament. The protesters are calling for the regime to change, and for the hijab to not be a mandate for women. Students also participated in these protests. The Iranian government dealt with this dissent very harshly -- it curbed internet access and used tear gas as well as pellet guns on protesters. The government has arrested more than 18,000 people involved in the protests and has killed as many as 470.
Students were also arrested, both in protests and in school. High schoolers were sent to psychiatric institutions and "re-education camps" for their participation in these protests. The Supreme Leader of Iran, Ali Khamenei, claimed that propaganda from the U.S, Britain, and Israel was causing these protests.
Timeline of key events: September 16th, 2022: Mahsa Amini died.
September 19th, 2022: Protests began. Internet access was shut down.
September 22nd, 2022: The U.S Sanctioned Iran's morality police. The U.N also responded to Mahsa Amini's death.
September 30th, 2022: Shooting at a police station. This was the deadliest day of the protests; officials claimed that 19 people had been killed, but Amnesty International later reported that up it was actually up to 66 people.
October 3rd, 2022: The Supreme Leader of Iran addressed the protests, claiming they were influenced by the west.
November 21st, 2022: Iran's men soccer team did not sing the national anthem at the World Cup as a form of protest. Some Iranian spectators also booed at the national anthem while it was playing. However, the soccer players were forced to sing at the next two games because of threats made against them.
December 4th, 2022: Iran reportedly abolished the morality police. This came from Iran's Attorney General, Jafar Montazeri. It is unconfirmed by Iran's Ministry of Justice.
January 16th, 2023: France supported the protests against Iran by displaying a pro-women slogan on the Eiffel tower as well as hosting a march that had more than 12,000 people in it. This was after the EU was pressured to take a firmer stance against Iran.
Author's commentary: Though this is a pretty late post, I remember being so saddened when I first learned about this. tragedy The fact that it's unclear what Amini's crime was, not to mention that it was something so trivial as her clothes, is extremely heartbreaking. I hope that her death and all these other deaths are not in vain and that this regime can be abolished. As spectators, we cannot really do much here except show solidarity with women in our lives. We must remember to stand up for others when we can. Though we may be tempted to feel helpless, it's important to remember that we can all do our part by learning about stories such as these. By educating ourselves, we can fight ignorance, which is the root cause of so many of these issues.
So remember to use your voice, and educate yourself!
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