By Emma Medina
On September 13, 22-year-old Mahsa Amini was arrested and taken into custody by the Iranian morality police, “who enforce the country’s strict Islamic rules,” says Time. She was admitted to the hospital hours after being in custody. On September 16, she was announced dead.
Mahsa was on a visit to Tehran with her family from her home in Kurdistan when she was arrested for violating the hijab law.
The law was put into effect in 1981 after the Islamic revolution and has been questioned by many women.
Protests broke out at Mahsa’s funeral in her hometown of Saqqez in the province of Kurdistan and have continued to spread across the country. These protests were mainly led by women, waving their hijabs and burning them while chanting “Zhin, Zhiyan, Azadi” (woman, life, freedom), reported Time.
Day after day, Iranian women faced police officers and security forces without their head coverings. The hijab was all some of the women had known, being born after the revolution in 1979 that made Iran a theocracy and cut back on women’s rights, according to Time. One week after Amini’s death, parts of Tehran became protest zones.
The Iranian government, caught off-guard, began fighting back. Iranian citizens posted videos on social media showing the police and the Basij forces beating and attacking protesters while the sound of gunshots was audible.
As protests continued, more names of men and women killed appeared on social media. According to AP News, State TV has suggested that the death toll has reached as high as 35 on late Friday.
The government is using methods from previous protests, primarily shutting down the internet. Much of social media has been filtered and mobile data networks shut off. Iranians have learned how to bypass these restrictions, but many still worry about the possibility of blackouts.
Protests continue despite risks. Videos of police officers being chased and beaten by demonstrators are circulating the internet There are protests in at least 80 cities according to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.
Various Iranian celebrities and athletes have publicly shown their support of the protestors, including those loyal to the Iranian government such as Shahab Hosseini.
“The death of Mahsa Amini was the spark in the powder keg of near-universal discontent among Iranians,” an anonymous political analyst in Tehran told the Time. He added that “Whether it be political and personal freedoms, economic hardships, or social limitations, many Iranians no longer have any hope for the future in the Islamic Republic… and the state no longer has the economic means to solve or delay its problems by throwing money at it.”
