Last week, a 22-year-old Kurdish Iranian woman named Mahsa Amini died while in police custody.
Picked up for an alleged dress code violation by Iran’s ethics police (who enforce the country’s strict religious dress code, including the requirement of women to wear certain hijab head coverings), Amini was taken to a detention facility for what her family was told would be one hour of “re-education.”
They never saw her alive again.
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Police say that an underlying condition led to Amini having a heart attack in their custody, slipping into a coma, and dying.
But her father says she never had an underlying health condition. And when he begged to see her body, he was denied – until it was presented to him, fully wrapped from head to toe to cover the state of her body. Mahsa’s father, Amjad Amini, says that he could only see the skin of her feet, and it was covered in bruises. It has been speculated that she died from multiple blows to the head, which police deny.
Outraged protests immediately sprang up in the wake of her death as people doubted the police account of her death, many calling it a shocking and blatant case of murder and police brutality.
Violence and upheaval have struck nearly every major city across Iran, with thousands of protests spilling into the streets in what they call “flash protests,” which organize and disband quickly to avoid giving the military a chance to respond. Much of the movement has been led by women in Iran, with some burning their hijabs publicly and cutting their hair – the first time in history such a thing has happened in the religious extremist country.
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The regime in power, led by Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, has placed boots on the ground, and there are reports of protestors being brutalized when they clash with security forces.
Although the young people, who are leaving Iran in droves as it becomes feasible, hope they will topple the oppressive regime, there’s little hope of it succeeding due to the extraordinary power of the military and security forces. Right now, the government is escalating its response and shutting off the internet – which has historically led to catastrophic results for rebels in Iran, with over 1,000 dead last time the government did so.
Many say that the world’s reaction to Iran proves racism is alive and well. Iran, a country majority of people with Brown skin, is being ignored in favor of Ukraine, a country of primarily white-skinned blue-eyed people.
It’s a sharp contrast that highlights how the western world only seems to care when they can visually empathize with the people being oppressed or assaulted.
Dozens have died in the protests, with some estimates suggesting 26 to 36, and others upwards of 100 – with hundreds reported injured.
Jesus…those poor souls. Fuck repressed men anyway.
If Iran 🇮🇷 goes back to the old school Iran, vegas is fucked.