Under Iran’s (earlier called Fars) Islamic Republic Cleric’s rule freedom is and was never an option. Under the Veil of religious farce, the stringent laws specifically designed to chain humans with shackles cannot be expected to have a key for the lock, especially for women.
Some laws and regulations encourage discrimination or torture against women, such as women should be covered from head to toe and not even a strand of hair should be visible. This became the base of the protests going on in Iran.
The Death That started The Global Protest
The death of a 22-year-old, Jina Mahsa Amini in police custody after she was detained by Iran’s Morality Police ‘The Guidance Patrol’ for not wearing a Hijab properly sparked a massive protest all around the globe.
People since then have been dissenting against the autocratic and paternalistic theocracy by waving their headscarves in the air, cutting their hair, and dancing in public (which is an offense in Iran).
The protest mostly includes young girls and teenagers filled with energy resisting to comply with the orders of and by the authoritarian regime with the hope to live and experiencing the life they dream of, a life free from clothing restriction, marriage law, abiding by androcentric rule, to have bodily autonomy, to not live in fear that they can be targeted by the brutality of the force anytime and anywhere and to dance freely.
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The Deaths & The Unrest
Picture Credit: Indian Express
Thousands of Iranians protested in the restive Southeast on Friday. Amid the protest, the dissenters had to go through a horrendous nightmare marking 30th September as “Bloody Friday”. In what can be seen as a massacre, Iranian security forces unlawfully open fire on a protest in the city of Zahedan, the capital of Sistan Baluchistan province.
According to Amnesty International, at least 68 people including children have been killed. The bullet wounds on the corpse showing the brutality of the forces while the leaders have taken an oath of silence can be taken as an emblem of Tehran’s repressive policies toward a poor ethnic minority region.
Since the protest began 2 months ago, at least 326 people have been killed and 15,000 dissenters have been arrested according to the Norway-based Iran Human Rights NGO. The threats by the government and the military have kept on increasing toward the dissenters, hitting them with charges, throwing them in jail, and firing tear gas, water cannons, and charges punishable by death.
When and Where does it all end? The teenagers and young protestors who are fighting for their future are being killed without being able to witness the future they are striving for is extremely inhumane. Why is everybody silent? The international community should take stringent action to stop this immediately.
Iran’s government for weeks has remained silent on casualty figures while state media counterfactually claims security forces have killed no one. Despite the government’s efforts to suppress the internet throughout the country, barring people from communicating online to raise awareness, and hitting the citizens with hordes of threats and even bullets (literally), people are out there protesting for their basic rights.
Despite the threat of arrests – and harsher punishments for those involved – Iranian celebrities and athletes have stepped forward to support the anti-government protests in recent weeks risking their lives. Their fury is mostly directed at Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, with chants like “Death To The Dictator”.
Iran’s First Death Statement
Recently on Sunday, Iran’s judiciary issued its first death sentence against an individual linked to riots for the crime of “setting fire to a government building, disturbing public order, and an enemy of God”. And sentenced 5 others to prison for 10 years.
Also read: Iran Issues First Death Sentence, receives international criticism for “brutal crackdown”
Women’s Long Fight For Basic Right
In a country like Iran where women acquire more schooling than men, still, ironically, their participation in market work remains less than 20%, considering that the Iranian regime sees women as vessels made for bearing and breeding the children and doing housework. Where honor killings are common, where women need written approval from their male counterparts to go out of the country, and where inequalities between men and women are justified using Islam.
Women no matter what attire is oppressed every single minute in the hands of patriarchy. Women’s lives and bodies are often seen as repositories of tradition and are used as representatives of traditions, religions, and society, in which we have little or no say. Why should we let others limit us to Ghunghats (veil) and Hijab as a place for us “To Smile, To Breathe, and To Exist”? It is time for the whole world to be a woman’s space to breathe in and conquer and to stop making us the victims and custodians of patriarchy.
