Who was Mahsa Amini?

The brutal murder of Mahsa Amini by the hands of the Iranian police has sparked new protest by feminist in Iran. On September 13 Mahsa Amini was taken into custody by Tehran police for wearing “inappropriate attire.”

Mahsa Amini was with her younger brother, Kiarash Amini at a train station when she was stopped by authorities. Accused of not complying with Guidance Patrol, and not wearing her hijab to fully cover her hair. Though Kiarash Amini with his best efforts tried to intervene, the militant hostility, police told him they were taking her away for a “morality lesson” and she would be released in a few hours.

After notifying his parents, Kiarash Amini was said to have gone to the station his sister was held at. In an interview with Time News, he states, “When I arrived in front of the building, there were dozens of people carrying clothes for the women detained inside. Suddenly we heard screams. The agents rushed out of the building and attacked us with batons and tear gas. Five minutes later an ambulance left the building. A woman told us “Someone was killed in there”. My mother showed Mahsa’s photo to the girls who came out. One of them said she had passed out in her arms. I asked one of the soldiers what happened. He replied: “One of our people was injured.” But she lied: it was Masha in that ambulance.””

Witnesses from the scene have claimed to have seen the police beat Mahsa Amini inside of the van. Kiarash witnessed his older sister face their cruel and violent tactics that would lead to her eventual demise just three days later

In attempts to hide the true details of Mahsa Aminis death, the Iranian government forged fake medical records for Amini, pretending that she had a history of heart disease to make it more believable when telling the public that a stroke was the cause of her death. This, however, was completely fabricated.

To take their efforts further the Iranian Government staged a recording of Mahsa Amani falling to the ground after experiencing a “heart attack” that would later cause her to go into a coma according to the government. Though there has never been a proper autopsy report made to prove these claims.

Sparked Outrage Leads To Woman-Lead Protests

The barbaric and ludicrous falsifications of Mahsa Amini death, since has sprouted into an anti-government movement. Outraged, Iranian women and men across the country take to the streets in protest.

Motivated by the fundamentally unacceptable acts of Iran’s morality police to rally against the Islamic republic, Iranian women are in defiance cutting their hair and burning their head scarfs.

Iranian dress code requires women to cover their hair and is a mandatory law that has not yet been abolished. It is the duty of Iran’s morality police to enforce these laws even if that leads to harsh and cruel punishments such as the death of Mahsa Amini, and over 300 protestors who were killed by police including over 60 children.

Harassing women, slapping them, beating them with batons, dragging them by their hair and forcing them into vans, and then running over their family members who try to retrieve their loved ones. These are all common tactics of Iran’s morality police.

Gender based violence against women is a continuous act baked within the country who’s laws do little to protect women and treat them as second class citizens.

Suppressing Iranian Voices

Since the uproar of Iranian citizens, protesters have been met with tear gas, water cannons, and firearms loaded with metal pellets from Iranian authorities, says Iran International.

Multiple reports record the arrest of protestors at the hands of the conservative regime. The Washington Post reports at least 92 people (including activists, journalists, and lawyers) have been arrested for their role in protests.

Additionally, authorities have imposed internet disruptions. These suppression tactics have applied restrictions to apps like Instagram and WhatsApp.

Systematic Misogyny and Police Brutality

Police brutality is a universal principle, one made worse by the authoritarian theocratic regime in Iran.

This theocratic nightmare and unbalanced power of conservative fundamentalist Islamists go hand in hand to justify the current Iranian administration. Current sanctions only add further to this instability.

Sanctions are collective punishment with the goal of political instability that, in theory, holds the hope of regime change and that citizen uproar might convince their leaders to reach for diplomacy. However, this method of aggression, more often than not, never hurts the people it’s suppose to.

Material conditions, however, cannot justify the Iranian states’ actions against its own people. This legitimate movement of people in an oppressive fundamentalist regime has sprouted, justifiably, as a direct consequence of being brutalized by their government.

In both law and practice, Iranian women are subjected to discrimination. Harassment, ill-treatment, and arbitrary detention are all too common responses towards women who defy Islamic fundamentalists.