Mahsa Amini, an Iranian woman of Kurdish origin, was arrested by the country’s “morality police” for an alleged breach of Iran’s strict dress code for women. Three days later, on September 16, young Amini lapsed into a coma and died. Since then, young women have led the charge across Iran, and beyond its borders.
Inside Iran, they protested by removing their headscarves, chanting anti-government slogans and confronting the security forces on the streets. The protests on the streets of Mahabad, Iran’s Kurdish city, erupted again after a protester was killed in a rally commemorating the 40th day since Mahsa Amini’s death.
According to some rights groups, the crackdown in the Islamic Republic has claimed the lives of 122 people since the death of Amini.
Protests have been raging, not just in Iran. From Turkey, to Germany, to Chile, to the U.S. and the UK, people took out rallies shouting slogans in support of the demonstrations in Iran. Many women took to the streets and chopped off locks of their hair during the protests, many of which were held in front of Iran’s embassies in those countries.
Meanwhile, some pro-hijab rallies were also seen on the streets of Tehran during the same period.
Rising high: Thousands making their way towards the Aichi cemetery in Saqez, Mahsa Amini’s home town in the western Iranian province of Kurdistan, to mark 40 days since her death, defying heightened security measures as part of a crackdown on women-led protests.
Burning issue: People light a fire during a protest against moral policing in Tehran.
Locks off: Nasibe Samsaei, an Iranian woman living in Turkey, cuts her hair during a protest outside the Iranian Consulate in Istanbul.
Taking a stand: A demonstration outside Iran’s Consulate in London.
In solidarity: People holding placards at the Acropolis archaeological site in Athens, Greece.
Loud and clear: A woman raising slogans in front of the Iranian Embassy in Madrid, Spain.
In one voice: A protester in the German capital Berlin gives a clarion call for freedom.
In memory: Syrian Kurdish women taking part in a demonstration in Syria’s northeastern city of Hasakeh.
Support for regime: Iranians taking part in a pro-hijab rally in the Tajrish Square, north of Tehran.
Published - October 30, 2022 12:35 pm IST
