The Protests Igniting Iran – Where they came from and where they could go

We live in a climate where exposure and access to information is potentially endless. 

 The way we absorb data and knowledge happens in every way we interact, from global news and social media, to conversation and the internet.  We communicate digitally and broadcast our opinions. We see images, watch videos and hear news that makes us speak out when we feel the cause to do so, arguing and protesting on and offline. We do this because we have the right to, and generally trust that our actions will not be punished so severely as to jeopardise our human rights. This ‘we’ is not a global citizen - the protests that erupted in Iran on 17^th September 2022 and continue to rage throughout the country remind us that the act of protesting is not a universal right, and that the cost of doing so varies hugely for the individual and the nation. 

Iran has been gripped by protests that began in reaction to the death of 22 year-old Mahsa Amini. Arrested by Iran’s ‘Morality Police’ on 13^th September for wearing her headscarf ‘incorrectly’, Amini was held in custody for three days before being pronounced dead on 16^th September. Despite the Iranian government’s denial of responsibility (citing an underlying illness), Amini’s death at the hands of the police became a stark reminder of the increasing immorality and violence (specifically gendered violence) of Iran’s morality police and the wider Islamic Republic. It is also important to note Amini’s Kurdish identity. Her Kurdish name, Jîna Amini, is one that has been largely erased in media coverage surrounding her death. To understand the morality police and their controversial function within Iran is to acknowledge that the issue of mandatory hijab in the country has always been a point of contention. 

Since 1981, two years after the end of the Islamic Revolution and the birth of the Islamic Republic in Iran, the wearing of the hijab became mandatory. The enforcement of the hijab in Iran rests on the Islamic Penal Code that states violation of dress-code laws are punishable by imprisonment, lashes or a fine. As such, the morality police can be seen as a medium point between wrongdoing and formal legal punishment. The police group, formally titled ‘Gasht-e-Ershad’ (guidance patrols) were established in 2005 and intended to guide Iranian citizens on the country’s mandatory dress code and re-educate those who violate it. These policies to ‘re-educate’ and ‘guide’ create an increasingly false narrative of rehabilitation and education when the reality of policing strategies have increasingly warped into violence. 

The story of Amini has perhaps resonated so profoundly in Iran and catalysed such a powerful response because of her relatable ‘normality’. Like every other woman in Iran, Amini observed the hijab mandate and, like every person in Iran, risked being stopped by the police anywhere, at any time. The question of why Amini in particular was stopped by police and what exactly was deemed so wrong with her appearance that she was killed for it, seems to be an unanswerable question. Yet, the Iranian government’s response to Amini’s death has been to deny responsibility, and in light of public outrage, condone further police violence, infringe further upon individual’s rights to speech and freedom.

The Iranian government’s investment in a national digital network, for example, gives it the resource power to manipulate internet services and censor any domain it chooses, thus a large-scale ‘blocking’ of certain internet platforms has become a frequent method used by the government to dispel conflict. In 2019, for example, 12 days of internet blackout were enforced due to nation-wide protests over fuel prices. As it currently stands, Iran is enduring the same breach of freedom. Two of the most popular social media streams in the country, WhatsApp and Instagram, have been blocked and the wider internet is generally down. Global digital communication with Iranians is therefore limited and the reality of protesting in Iran is being filtered and blocked by a government that is violently quelling its rebellion. Our dependency on the internet as an information base and source of knowledge gives it the power to be weaponised, especially in times of crisis. Its ability to be manipulated by wealthy and powerful structures challenges our use of the internet as an impactful information source through which we are able to ignite change in the best use of its capabilities. 

Anger has not subsided in Iran and protests continue; women symbolically burn their hijabs and cut their hair, shouting and screaming for their right to freedom, right to choose, right to equality. The protest has developed, with the aid of male allies, to mark a wider stand against the corruption and despotism of the Iranian regime. Those who willingly wear their hijabs and those who are forced to, men and women, religious and non-religious are risking their lives to be heard, to join a movement that may change their own futures. The IHR (Iran Human Rights group based in Norway) reported on October 8^th that at least 185 people have been killed during demonstrations in Iran thus far. The extreme death toll, which will likely grow in coming days, reveals the extreme battle between public and government, between repression and freedom.

Amini’s death has sparked something more than a protest. Her death, a glaring reminder of the repression of women’s rights, reveals a wider government acceptance and support of gendered violence and breach of Iranian human rights in their violent backlash to protests. The protest has captured global attention and intersectional support; The increases in already-severe sanctions from countries such as the US and Germany (with further plans for potential EU wide sanctions) are small steps, but ones that remind us of the power and possibility that protest has to become revolution. The protest, at its heart, is centred on women’s right to freedom, and the challenges it poses to the Islamic Republic in its defiance and bravery truly marks it as one of the most significant developing revolutions in modern history.