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Tag: hijab

  • More arrest made for women who do not cover their hair in Iran

    More arrest made for women who do not cover their hair in Iran

    Iranian authorities have detained two women after they were beaten with yogurt, ostensibly for not covering their hair in public.

    In the viral video, a man approaches two female customers and starts conversing with them.

    He then furiously throws what looks to be a tub of yogurt over their heads after grabbing it from a shelf.

    According to Iran’s judiciary, the two women were imprisoned because it is against the law to display one’s hair in Iran.

    Also, the individual was detained for upsetting the peace, it said.

    The arrests come after months of demonstrations calling for an end to the requirement that women wear the hijab (headscarf).

    The footage shows the women in the shop, waiting to be served by a member of staff. A man who looks to be passing by then walks in to confront them.

    After he speaks, he repeatedly attacks them with yoghurt. The attacker is then pushed out of the shop by the shopkeeper.

    Arrest warrants were issued and the three were subsequently arrested, the judiciary’s Mizan news agency reported.

    It added that “necessary notices” have been issued to the owner of the shop to ensure compliance with the law.

    Not wearing the hijab in public is illegal for women in Iran, however in big cities, many walk around without it despite the rules.

    Anger and frustration with the law have driven dissent in Iranian society.

    Protests spread across the Islamic Republic in September following the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman detained by morality police in Tehran for allegedly wearing her hijab “improperly”.

    The protests widened, but they remained rooted in the issue of the hijab.

    Thousands have been arrested and four protesters have been executed since December. But the authorities show no sign of relenting.

    One hardline Iranian MP, Hossein Ali Haji Deligani, has issued an ultimatum to the judiciary to come up with measures to put a stop to the flouting of the rules within the next 48 hours.

    And on Saturday, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi reiterated that Iranian women should wear the hijab as a “religious necessity”.

    “Hijab is a legal matter and adherence to it is obligatory,” he said in quotes cited by AFP news agency.

  • Iran still strong on enforcing hijab rules

    Iran still strong on enforcing hijab rules

    Iranian authorities have made it clear that they are determined to make the headscarf a requirement for women.

    It happens following months of demonstrations calling for the prohibition to be lifted.

    an absolute A member of parliament in Iran has given the judiciary 48 hours to develop methods to stop women from disobeying the laws governing headscarves.

    The widespread protests that broke out in Iran in September have currently been largely put an end by force.

    But some women still disobey the laws requiring them to cover their heads in public. Videos and images shared online demonstrate the pervasiveness of rage and discontent with the restrictions in Iranian society.

    A video posted this week shows a man throwing a tub of yogurt in the face of an unveiled woman. His action was met with outrage by male and female bystanders.

    Protests swept across the Islamic Republic following the death in September of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman detained by morality police in Tehran for allegedly wearing her hijab “improperly”.

    Thousands have been arrested and four protesters have been executed since December. But the authorities show no sign of relenting.

    The interior ministry announced this week that there would be no retreat or tolerance on the issue. The statement said that the hijab remained an essential element of Islamic law and as such would remain one of the key principles of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

    The unyielding rhetoric echoed that of the head of the judiciary, Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei, who recently said that women who do not wear the head covering would be prosecuted without mercy.

    Now, a hardline MP has said that legislative measures must be taken to enforce what he called the “divine decree” of the hijab.

    Hossein Ali Haji Deligani said that if the judiciary did not provide such action within the next 48 hours, then MPs would put in motion a bill to fill the legal vacuum.

    He said that it would be in line with a report by the parliamentary cultural commission on “chastity and the hijab”.

    The protests widened to encompass calls for a complete overhaul of the Islamic Republic – but it remained rooted in the issue of the hijab.

    The image of Mahsa Amini has remained the most potent symbol of the movement, which for a while was able to shake the foundations of the theocracy that has ruled Iran for more than 40 years.

  • Iran morality police reportedly disbanded amidst protests

    Iran’s morality police, tasked with enforcing the country’s Islamic dress code, are being disbanded, according to the country’s attorney general.

    Mohammad Jafar Montazeri made the remarks, which have yet to be confirmed by other agencies, at an event on Sunday.

    Protests in Iran have raged for months over the death of a young woman in custody.

    The morality police detained Mahsa Amini for allegedly violating strict head covering rules.

    Mr Montazeri was asked at a religious conference if the morality police were being disbanded.

    “The morality police had nothing to do with the judiciary and have been shut down from where they were set up,” he said.

    Control of the force lies with the interior ministry and not with the judiciary.

    On Saturday, Mr Montazeri also told the Iranian parliament the law that requires women to wear hijabs would be looked at.

     

    Even if the morality police is shut down this does not mean the decades-old law will be changed.

    Women-led protests, labelled “riots” by the authorities, have swept Iran since 22-year-old Amini died in custody on 16 September, three days after her arrest by the morality police in Tehran.

    Her death was the catalyst for the unrest but it also follows discontent over poverty, unemployment, inequality, injustice and corruption.

    ‘A revolution is what we have’

    If confirmed, the scrapping of the morality police would be a concession but there are no guarantees it would be enough to halt the protests, which have seen demonstrators burn their head coverings.

    “Just because the government has decided to dismantle morality police it doesn’t mean the protests are ending,” one Iranian woman told the BBC World Service’s Newshour programme.

    “Even the government saying the hijab is a personal choice is not enough. People know Iran has no future with this government in power. We will see more people from different factions of Iranian society, moderate and traditional, coming out in support of women to get more of their rights back.”

    Another woman said: “We, the protesters, don’t care about no hijab no more. We’ve been going out without it for the past 70 days.

    “A revolution is what we have. Hijab was the start of it and we don’t want anything, anything less, but death for the dictator and a regime change.”

    Iranian state media pushed back on the claim the country’s morality police is being disbanded, according to CNN.

    State television channel Al-Alam reportedly said foreign media were portraying Mr Montazeri’s comments as “the Islamic Republic retreating from the issue of hijab and modesty and claim that it is due to the recent riots”.

    “But no official of the Islamic Republic of Iran has said that the Guidance Patrol has been shut.”

    US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the abolition of Iran’s morality police could be “a positive thing” and praised the “extraordinary courage of Iranian young people, especially women, who’ve been leading these protests”.

    Blinken said: “If the regime has now responded in some fashion, to those protests, that could be a positive thing.”

    Iran has had various forms of “morality police” since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, but the latest version – known formally as the Gasht-e Ershad – is currently the main agency tasked enforcing Iran’s Islamic code of conduct.

    They began their patrols in 2006 to enforce the dress code which also requires women to wear long clothes and forbids shorts, ripped jeans and other clothes deemed immodest.

  • UK working to remove Iran from UN women’s rights body

    The UK is working to remove Iran from a UN body dedicated to women’s rights.

    David Rutley, a foreign office minister, was answering an urgent question about the protest in Iran.

    He said the UK was working with the US and others to remove Iran from the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women.

    Mr Rutley said the protest had seen more than 300 deaths – of which 43 were children.

    The demonstrations started two months ago after Mahsa Amini, 22, died in custody after being detained by “morality police” for allegedly breaking strict hijab rules.

    There have been large protests in numerous parts of the country, as well as smaller, individual actions like clerics having their headwear knocked off and women breaking rules on wearing head coverings.

    Mr Rutley said death sentences are now likely to increase.

    Source: Skynews.com 

  • Iran unrest: Tehran court sentences first person to death over protest

    State media has reported that , an Iranian court has sentenced to death the first person arrested for participating in the country’s protests.

    The defendant, who was not named, was found guilty of “enmity against God” by the Revolutionary Court for setting fire to a government facility.

    Another court sentenced five people to prison terms ranging from five to ten years on national security and public order charges.

    A human rights organisation warned that authorities may be planning “hurried executions.”

    According to official reports, at least 20 people are currently facing charges punishable by death, according to the Norway-based Iran Human Rights.

    Its director, Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, called on the international community to take urgent action and “strongly warn the Islamic Republic of the consequences of executing protesters”.

    Protests against Iran’s clerical establishment erupted two months ago after the death in custody of a young woman detained by morality police for allegedly breaking the strict hijab rules.

    They are reported to have spread to 140 cities and towns and evolved into the most significant challenge to the Islamic Republic in over a decade.

    At least 326 protesters, including 43 children and 25 women, have been killed in a violent crackdown by security forces, according to Iran Human Rights.

    The Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), which is also based outside the country, has put the death toll at 339 and said another 15,300 protesters have detained. It has also reported the deaths of 39 security personnel.

    Iran’s leaders have portrayed the protests as “riots” instigated by the country’s foreign enemies.

    Last week, judiciary chief Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei declared that “key perpetrators” should be identified as soon as possible and handed sentences that would have a deterrent effect on others.

    He warned that “rioters” could be charged with “moharebeh” (enmity against God), “efsad fil-arz” (corruption on Earth) and “baghy” (armed rebellion) – all of which can carry the death penalty in Iran’s Sharia-based legal system.

    Those possessing and using a weapon or firearm, disrupting national security, or killing someone could receive “qisas” (retaliation in kind), he said, apparently responding to a call for retributive justice from 272 of the 290 members of Iran’s parliament.

    More than 2,000 people have already been charged with participating in the “recent riots”, according to judiciary figures.

    On Sunday, local media cited judiciary officials as saying that 164 had been charged in the southern province of Hormozgan, another 276 in the central province of Markazi, and 316 in neighbouring Isfahan province.

  • Taliban official: Women barred from using Afghanistan’s gyms

    According to a Kabul official, the Taliban have banned women from using gyms in Afghanistan as part of their latest religious edict which restricts women’s rights and freedoms since taking power more than a year ago.

    The Taliban took over the country last year and will take power in August 2021. Despite initial promises to the contrary, they have barred girls from middle and high school, restricted women from most fields of employment, and ordered them to wear head-to-toe clothing in public.

    According to a spokesman for the Ministry of Virtue and Vice, the ban was implemented because people were disobeying gender segregation orders and women were not wearing the required headscarf, or hijab. Parks are also off-limits to women.

    The ban on women using gyms and parks came into force this week, according to Mohammed Akef Mohajer, a Taliban-appointed spokesman for the Ministry of Virtue and Vice.

    The group has “tried its best” over the past 15 months to avoid closing parks and gyms for women, ordering separate days of the week for male and female access or imposing gender segregation, he said.

    “But, unfortunately, the orders were not obeyed and the rules were violated, and we had to close parks and gyms for women,” said Mohajer. “In most cases, we have seen both men and women together in parks and, unfortunately, the hijab was not observed. So we had to come up with another decision and for now we ordered all parks and gyms to be closed for women.”

    Taliban teams will begin monitoring establishments to check if women are still using them, he said.

    A female personal trainer told The Associated Press that women and men were not exercising or training together before at the Kabul gym where she works.

    “The Taliban are lying,” she insisted, speaking on condition of anonymity, fearing reprisals. “We were training separately.

    On Thursday, she said two men claiming to be from the Ministry of Virtue and Vice entered her gym and made all the women leave.

    “The women wanted to protest about the gyms (closing) but the Taliban came and arrested them,” she added. “Now we don’t know if they’re alive or dead.”

    Taliban-appointed Kabul police chief spokesman Khalid Zadran said he had no immediate information about women protesting gym closures or arrests.

    The U.N. special representative in Afghanistan for women, Alison Davidian, condemned the ban. “This is yet another example of the Taliban’s continued and systematic erasure of women from public life,” she said. “We call on the Taliban to reinstate all rights and freedoms for women and girls.”

    Hard-liners appear to hold sway in the Taliban-led administration, which struggles to govern and remains internationally isolated. An economic downturn has driven millions more Afghans into poverty and hunger as the flow of foreign aid has slowed to a trickle.

    Kabul-based women’s rights activist Sodaba Nazhand said the bans on gyms, parks, work, and school would leave many women wondering what was left for them in Afghanistan.

    “It is not just a restriction for women, but also for children,” she said. “Children go to a park with their mothers, now children are also prevented from going to the park. It’s so sad and unfair.”

  • Taraneh Alidoosti: Prominent Iranian actress poses without a headscarf.

    To show solidarity with anti-government protests, a prominent Iranian actress posted an image of herself without a headscarf on Instagram.

    Taraneh Alidoosti, best known for her role in the Oscar-winning film The Salesman, also held a sign in Kurdish that read “Woman, Life, Freedom.”

    Protesters have adopted the slogan as a rallying cry.

    The protests sparked by Mahsa Amini’s death in police custody are now in their seventh week.

    The 22-year-old died after being arrested by morality police in Tehran for allegedly breaking Iran’s strict rules requiring women to wear a hijab, or Islamic headscarf, to cover their hair.

    Ms Alidoosti is one of Iran’s most successful actresses and has more than eight million followers on Instagram. She starred in The Salesman, which won an Academy Award in 2016 for the Best International Feature Film.

    She has previously vowed to remain inside Iran at any price and has paused her career to support the families of those killed in the security forces’ clampdown on demonstrators.

    Local human rights activists say least 328 people have been killed and 14,800 others have been detained.

    The star’s post is the latest gesture of support by leading figures in the arts and sports of Iran.

    Last month, Iranian star footballer Sardar Azmoun backed demonstrators amid increasing violence from the government. The Bayern Leverkusen forward condemned security forces in an Instagram story, saying: “Shame on you for easily killing the people and viva women of Iran. Long live Iranian women!”

  • Protests continue as Iran holds its first court sessions for alleged ‘rioters’

    Iranian officials criticise a United Nations rapporteur, while a large number of journalists demand the release of their detained colleagues.

    Protests in Iran that began last month in response to the death of a young woman in police custody have been documented in cities across the country this week, even as protesters’ first court hearings have been held and internet restrictions remain in place.

    More protests were seen on social media at universities, particularly in Tehran and Sanandaj, the capital of Kurdistan’s northwestern province, where Mahsa Amini, 22, was from. She died on September 16 after being detained by Iran’s morality police.

    Social media footage showed clashes breaking out on Sunday at Tehran’s Azad University between students and security forces, who fired tear gas.

    The demonstrations persisted after Hossein Salami, the commander-in-chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, said on Saturday, “Today is the last day of the riots,” as he warned people “not to come to the streets”.

    An unknown number of protesting students was suspended from universities this week, reports on social media and foreign-based outlets said. It prompted their fellow students to demonstrate on Monday in their support, according to images on social media, which could not be independently verified.

    Meanwhile, a court in Tehran on Sunday held the first hearings for “rioters” accused, among other things, of intentionally killing police officers and burning public and government property. Several people are charged with “corruption on Earth” and “waging war against God”, which carry the death penalty.

    The Iranian judiciary said more than 1,000 indictments have been issued for people participating in “riots” across the country after a call this month by the judiciary chief to fast-track cases and hand out harsh sentences.

    Iranian media reported that one arrest was of Toomaj Salehi, a dissident rapper who had filmed himself participating in protests and regularly posted his opposition to the Iranian establishment on social media. His friends rejected reports that he was arrested in a border province while trying to flee the country. Salehi had been previously detained in September 2021 after releasing songs with lyrics decrying the establishment but was released on bail.

    ‘Let’s free the journalists’

    Amini died days after being detained by Iran’s morality police and taken to a “re-education centre” for allegedly not fully complying with the country’s mandatory dress code.

    Those arrested since the start of the protests include a slew of reporters and photojournalists. More than 500 local journalists have signed a statement that calls on authorities to release their colleagues. They say the detained journalists have been denied access to lawyers and charged prior to facing public trials and official submission of evidence.

    “Let’s not blind the eyes of the society,” said the statement on Sunday, which was carried on the front page of several newspapers. “Let’s free the journalists.”

    Its publication came two days after Iran’s intelligence community, in a rare joint report, accused two journalists – Niloufar Hamedi and Elaheh Mohammadi – of covering Amini’s death after being trained abroad by the United States spy agency.

    Hamedi had reported on Amini’s death from a hospital in Tehran and posted an image of the woman’s parents holding each other. Mohammadi had travelled to Amini’s hometown of Saqqez to cover her funeral. The editors-in-chief of the two newspapers they work for have said the reporters were on assignment and only did their job.

    Dozens of people are thought to have been killed during the protests and many more injured, but Iranian authorities have yet to release an official tally. Dozens of members of the security forces have also been killed. Several of them died this week, according to authorities, who release their names and hold state funerals for them.

    Speaking with the family of a security officer killed in Tehran, President Ebrahim Raisi promised, “We will under no circumstances allow the enemy’s designs for harming our security.”

    Top Iranian authorities, including Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, have accused the United States and Israel of being behind the unrest.

    Some officials have signalled that they are open to reforms as a result of the protests, provided protests are differentiated from “riots” and efforts to “overthrow the establishment”.

    “The country’s political establishment is a definitive platform for any type of reforms and changes to secure popular interests, and some of this change consists of reforms in governance within the framework of the Islamic Republic’s political establishment that must lead to new governance,” Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said.

     

    Foreign tensions rising

    The persistent protests and lingering internet restrictions have put the Iranian state at odds with a number of other countries and officials.

    The US and Albania are preparing to hold an informal meeting of the United Nations Security Council on Wednesday to discuss what Washington has called “brutal suppression” of the protests.

    Speaking to reporters on Monday, Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani criticised Javaid Rehman, the special UN rapporteur on human rights in Iran, for a “deeply anti-Iranian approach” and for agreeing to participate in the Security Council meeting, which Tehran considers to be politically motivated.

    “Unfortunately, human rights have become a tool for pursuing the political goals of some countries, especially the US,” Rehman said.

    On Sunday, a group of prominent women from 14 countries – including Nobel laureates Malala Yousefzai and Nadia Murad, former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and former US first lady Michelle Obama – published an open letter calling for Iran’s immediate expulsion from the UN Commission on the Status of Women.

    German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said the European Union was examining whether to classify the Revolutionary Guard as a “terrorist” organisation for its response to the protests, something the Iranian foreign ministry on Monday called “illegal”. The US already designated the elite force as a “terrorist” group in 2019.

    Tehran has responded to human rights sanctions by the US, EU the United Kingdom, and Canada with sanctions of its own and has said new measures on US and Canadian officials and entities would be imposed.

    Iran this week blocked a host of services by Google, including its maps and Android apps store after the store flagged a major state-backed application as being unsafe because of suspicions of “spying” on users’ data. Authorities denounced Google’s move as being politically motivated.

    State-affiliated media showed footage of “large numbers of students and professors” who were reported to be taking part in demonstrations denouncing a “terrorist” attack on a major Shia religious shrine in Shiraz last week. It killed 15 people and wounded dozens.

    Authorities organised rallies in the southern city and elsewhere to denounce the attack. Top Iranian officials have linked the attack to “riots” and pledged to take revenge as a website linked with ISIL (ISIS) claimed responsibility.

     

     

  • Iran protests: Clashes after crowds gather at Mahsa Amini’s grave

    Clashes have been reported in Mahsa Amini’s hometown between Iranian security forces and protesters after crowds gathered near her grave to mark 40 days since her death in custody.

    Security personnel in Saqqez’s Zindan Square fired live rounds and tear gas, according to a Kurdish rights group.

    The semi-official news agency Isna reported a clash on the city’s outskirts.

    Earlier, thousands of mourners at the Aichi cemetery shouted “Woman, life, freedom” and “Death to the dictator”.

    They are two of the signature chants of the anti-government unrest that has swept across Iran since Ms Amini died.

    The 22-year-old Kurdish woman was detained by the morality police in the capital, Tehran, on 13 September for allegedly wearing her hijab “improperly”.

    She fell into a coma after collapsing at a detention centre and died three days later. There were reports that officers beat her on the head with a baton and banged her head against a vehicle, but the police denied that she was mistreated and said she suffered a heart attack.

    Many Iranians were enraged and the first protests took place after Ms Amini’s funeral in Saqqez, when women ripped off their headscarves in solidarity. The protests spread quickly and evolved into one of the most serious challenges to the Islamic Republic since the 1979 revolution.

    Women have been at the forefront, defiantly waving their headscarves in the air, setting them on fire, and even cutting their hair in public.

    Schoolgirls have also been demonstrating in playgrounds and on the streets in an unprecedented show of support.

    Norway-based Iran Human Rights says at least 234 protesters, including 29 children, have been killed by security forces in a violent crackdown on what Iran’s leaders have portrayed as “riots” fomented by foreign enemies.

    Riot police and members of the paramilitary Basij Resistance Force were reportedly deployed in large numbers in Saqqez and other parts of Kurdistan province on Wednesday, in anticipation of fresh unrest on the 40th day of mourning for Ms Amini – a culturally significant occasion for Iranians.

    However, videos showed thousands of residents walking along a highway and through a field – apparently to bypass roadblocks – to reach the Aichi cemetery.

    “They tried to stop us from entering the cemetery… but I managed to get in,” Reuters news agency quoted a witness as saying.

    Kurdish human rights group Hengaw, which is also based in Norway, posted several videos that it said showed a large crowd shouting “Down with traitors” and “Kurdistan, Kurdistan, the fascists’ graveyard”.

    In another clip, men and women were seen waving scarves and shouting “Freedom, freedom, freedom”.

    It was not clear whether members of Ms Amini’s family were at the cemetery. Activists said security forces had warned them not to hold a mourning ceremony and had threatened the safety of their son.

    State news agency Irna, meanwhile, cited what it claimed was a statement from the family saying that they would not hold an event in order to avoid “unfortunate issues”. But a source close to the family told the BBC they had written no such message.

    Kurdistan Governor Esmail Zarei Koosha said the situation in Saqqez was calm on Wednesday morning and denied that roads had been shut.

    “The enemy and its media… are trying to use the 40-day anniversary of Mahsa Amini’s death as a pretext to cause new tensions, but fortunately, the situation in the province is completely stable,” he was quoted as saying by Irna.

    Later, Hengaw posted videos it said showed a crowd of protesters walking towards the governorate’s office in Saqqez and clashes between protesters and security forces in the Qukh neighbourhood.

     

    Isna reported that “a limited number of those present at Mahsa Amini’s memorial clashed with police forces on the outskirts of Saqqez and were dispersed”. It added that the local internet service was cut off “due to security conditions”.

    Hengaw also reported protests in the nearby cities of Sanandaj and Mahabad as well as general strikes in cities and towns across Kurdistan.

    Authorities closed all schools and universities in the province “because of a wave of influenza”, according to state media.

    Opposition activist collective 1500tasvir said protests were also held on Wednesday at Tehran’s Grand Bazaar, as well as at universities in Tehran, the north-eastern city of Mashhad, and in Ahvaz, in the southwest.

    Video also appeared to show that security forces fired tear gas inside Amirabad girls’ school in Tehran in response to a protest by students.

     

  • Elnaz Rekabi: Iranian climber claims her hijab fell off inadvertently at competition

    According to an Instagram post, a female Iranian climber who competed with her hair uncovered did so because her headscarf “inadvertently” fell off.

    Those protesting against Iran’s clothing code praised Elnaz Rekabi, 33 when a video showed her breaking it at the Asian Championships in South Korea.

    Friends had been unable to contact her, according to BBC Persian on Monday.

    On Tuesday, the Instagram post apologised for “getting everybody worried” and said she was flying home.

    “Due to bad timing, and the unanticipated call for me to climb the wall, my head covering inadvertently came off,” it explained.

    The post added that she was on her way back to Iran “alongside the team based on the pre-arranged schedule”.

    BBC Persian’s Rana Rahimpour says that too many people the language used in this post looks like it has been written under duress.

    Other Iranian women who have competed abroad without wearing a headscarf in the past have said they came under pressure from Iranian authorities to issue similar apologies, she adds. Some of them decided not to go back to Iran.

    Women in the country are required to cover their hair with a hijab and their arms and legs with loose clothing. Female athletes must also abide by the dress code when they are officially representing Iran in competitions abroad.

    File photo showing Elnaz Rekabi wearing a hijab as she competes at the indoor World Climbing and Paraclimbing Championships in Paris on 14 September 2016
    IMAGE SOURCE, AFP Image caption, Elnaz Rekabi wore a hijab at the indoor world championships in Paris in 2016

    Earlier, the Iranian embassy in South Korea said Ms Rekabi had left Seoul for Iran on Tuesday morning. It also strongly denied what it called “all fake news, lies and false information” about her.

    The International Federation of Sport Climbing (IFSC) said it had been in contact with Ms Rekabi and the Iranian Climbing Federation, and that it was “trying to establish the facts”.

    “It is important to stress that athletes’ safety is paramount for us and we support any efforts to keep a valued member of our community safe in this situation,” it added. “The IFSC fully supports the rights of athletes, their choices, and expression of free speech.”

    A source told BBC Persian on Monday that Ms Rekabi’s passport and mobile phone were confiscated, and that she left her hotel in Seoul two days before her scheduled departure date. Her family and friends lost contact with her after she said she was with an Iranian official.

    Two years ago, an Iranian international chess referee said she had received death threats after a photo circulated that appeared to show her without a hijab at the Women’s World Chess Championship in Shanghai.

    Shohreh Bayat insisted that she had been wearing a headscarf loosely over her hair at the time, but she subsequently stopped covering her hair and claimed asylum in the UK after being warned that she could face arrest in Iran.

    “I had to choose my side because I was asked to write an apology on Instagram and to apologise publicly,” Ms Bayat told BBC World News on Tuesday.

    “I was given a list of things to do. I knew that if I just followed those things that I did not believe in if I apologised for not wearing a headscarf, then I could not forgive myself.”

    Asked what she thought about Elnaz Rekabi’s Instagram post, she said: “I think actions speak louder than words. And she made a very powerful statement in not wearing a headscarf.”

    Ms Bayat has called on the international community to act over the violent crackdown by Iranian authorities in response to nationwide protests against the compulsory hijab laws and the clerical establishment.

    The protests were sparked by the death in custody of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman arrested by morality police in Tehran on 13 September for allegedly wearing her headscarf too loosely.

    The police denied reports that she was beaten on the head with a baton and said she suffered a heart attack.

    On Tuesday, the UN Human Rights Office said it was deeply worried by the “unabated violent response by security forces against protesters, and reports of arbitrary arrests and the killing and detention of children”.

    “Some sources suggest that as many as 23 children have been killed and many others injured in at least seven provinces by live ammunition, metal pellets at close range, and fatal beatings,” spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani said.

    She added that a number of schools had also been raided and children arrested by security forces, while some principals had been arrested for not cooperating.

    Norway-based Iran Human Rights has reported that 215 people have been killed by security forces. Authorities have denied killing peaceful demonstrators and instead blamed foreign-backed “rioters”.

     

  • Iran accuses ‘Great Satan’ US of inciting chaos and violence 

    President Raisi has joined Supreme Leader Khamenei in condemning the United States for inciting fatal protests over the death of a woman in government custody.

    Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi accused US President Joe Biden of “inciting disorder” after expressing sympathy for protests against the murder of Mahsa Amini, who died in Iranian government custody nearly a month ago.

    The protests started in mid-September after Amini, 22, died following three days in the custody of Iran’s “morality police” for allegedly violating the strict dress code for women.

    “The remarks of the American president – who is inciting chaos, terror, and the destruction of another country – serve as a reminder of the eternal words of the founder of the Islamic Republic who called America the Great Satan,” Raisi said, referring to the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomenei.

    “The enemy’s plot must be countered by effective measures to resolve people’s problems,” Raisi said, according to a statement from the president’s office.

    Dozens of people have died in the protests. Most have been protesters, but members of the security forces have also died. Hundreds of demonstrators have been arrested.

    On Friday, Biden said, “We stand with the citizens, the brave women of Iran.”

    “It stunned me what it awakened in Iran,” the US president said. “It awakened something that I don’t think will be quieted for a long, long time.”

    Iranian foreign affairs spokesman Nasser Kanani said on Sunday, “Iran is too strong for its will to be swayed by the interference … of a politician tired of years of failure.”

    “We will together defend the independence of Iran,” Kanani wrote on Instagram.

    The US issued new sanctions against Iranian officials on October 6 over what it called the “violent suppression of protests”.

    The US Treasury last month also placed sanctions on the morality police.

    Raisi accused the United States of starting unrest in the past, saying because of “the failure of America in militarisation and sanctions, Washington and its allies have resorted to the failed policy of destabilisation”.

    This month, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei blamed the US and Israel for instigating the protests, accusing them of trying to stop Iran’s “progress”.

     

  • Nika Shakarami: Videos depict an Iranian teen protesting just before dying

    According to her mother, who spoke to BBC Persian, videos aired online show an Iranian teen protesting hours before she passed away.

    On September 20, Nika Shakarami, 16, is pictured burning her headscarf while standing on a dumpster in Tehran as people yell anti-Islamic Republic slogans.

    She later disappeared after telling a friend she was being chased by police.

    Her mother, Nasrin, also denied she was in a CCTV video put out by officials to support their claim that her death was not connected to the protests that day.

    Mrs Shakarami has accused security forces of murdering her daughter, but officials have said she died after being thrown from a building that was under construction, possibly by workmen.

    Last week, Iranian state TV broadcast blurry footage showing a teenage girl or woman whom it identified as Nika walking down an alley and entering a building through a door.

    But Mrs Shakarami told BBC Persian on Monday that the person in the video was not her daughter. Another source close to the family also said that they did not walk like Nika.

    Mrs Shakarami also alleged that her sister Atash and brother Mohsen had been forced into making false statements about Nika’s death while they were in detention.

    “They threatened to detain my brother’s four-year-old child,” she said.

    Mohsen was shown on TV last Wednesday night speaking against the current protests, as someone off camera seems to whisper to him: “Say it, you scumbag!” Atash was meanwhile seen saying that Nika “was killed falling from a building”. They were released after making the statements.

    Nika Shakarami
    IMAGE SOURCE,BBC PERSIAN SOURCE Image caption, Nika Shakarami’s mother said family members had been ordered to lie about how her daughter died

    Nika’s family has said they located her body at the mortuary 10 days after she went missing, and that they were only allowed by officials to see her face for a few seconds in order to identify her. Atash has also said that the Revolutionary Guards told her that Nika was in their custody for five days and then handed over to prison authorities.

    Mrs Shakarami said Nika had disappeared hours after attending the protest seen in videos that have surfaced on social media in recent days.

    One of the videos shows a girl dressed in black standing on a dumpster on a street and waving a burning headscarf. A crowd around her is heard chanting “death to the dictator” – a reference to the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the final say on all state matters. Another video shows the same scene from a different angle.

    “Like Nika, I have been against compulsory hijab since I was a child. But my generation was not brave enough to protest,” Mrs Shakarami told BBC Persian.

    “People my age accepted years of suppression, intimidation, and humiliation, but my daughter protested and she had every right to do so.”

    “Generation Z” – defined as those born between 1997 and 2012 – has been at the forefront of the protests sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman who was detained by the morality police for allegedly violating the Islamic Republic’s strict hijab law.

    Nika is not the only young female protester to have been killed during the unrest.

    The family of Hadis Najafi, 22, have said that she was shot dead by security forces while protesting in the city of Karaj, west of Tehran, on 21 September.

    Another 16-year-old girl, Sarina Esmailzadeh, allegedly died after being severely beaten on the head with batons by security forces during protests in Karaj on 23 September, according to Amnesty International.

    On Monday, the Iranian Society for Protecting the Rights of the Child reported that a total of 28 children had been killed during the protests.

    Many other children had been arrested and were being held at detention centres, the group said.

     

     

     

     

  • Iran protester: ‘You know that you might never come back’

    Protests in Iran are continuing despite a crackdown by security forces that one human rights group says has killed at least 201 people. The unrest erupted in response to the death in custody of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman detained by the morality police for allegedly breaking the strict hijab rules.

    There are heavy restrictions on independent and foreign reporting in the country. But the BBC Today programme’s Nick Robinson was able to interview Fawaz – not his real name – who has been protesting on the streets in Tehran.

    The atmosphere is quite tense and yet it is exciting. People are hopeful this time and we hope that a real change is just around the corner. I don’t think people are willing to give up this time. Now, we are seeing women in the street who are not wearing a hijab. They are walking past and people are quite supportive. Drivers in the street honk whenever they see a woman is not covered up. They don’t cover up their heads.

    Usually, the protests start in the evening, in the afternoon. And they are in different locations in a city, so people do not just gather round in one specific area. If you just go out, you can hear cars honking. In some parts, people are out in the street. They are protesting against the security forces. And at night, the people who do not want to leave their houses are shouting slogans like “down with the dictator” out of their windows. You can hear some sort of protest everywhere, almost every night. That feels good, that feels really good.

    Nick Robinson: What sort of people are joining the protests?

    Everyone. The prominent figures in this are actually women. They are to some extent leading this. Their rights are part of human rights. That is why some people might call it a feminist movement. But what is setting this apart is the inclusion of minorities and women at the front. And it’s widespread. It is not just in big cities. It is in smaller cities.

    NR: When you confront the security forces, how are they reacting?

    When you take to the streets you should expect anything. Deep down, you know that you might never come back. You might get arrested, and detained for days, months, or even years, as we have seen before. So far, I have been lucky. I have been beaten with a baton [by security forces], I have been kicked. But I have seen worse. The situation is quite stressful, but it is quite hopeful as well. It is stressful because you never know whether the person standing next to you is a member of the security force. And yet it is hopeful because you can see that your voice is finally being heard, especially this time on an international level, despite all the [internet] filtering that is going on in Iran.

    NR: You go out on the streets knowing, in your words, that “you might never come back”. This is something you are prepared to die for?

    Yes.

    NR: Why?

    Somewhere, at one time, for this to end we need to do something. We should accept the challenges and the facts as well. If we want to say something, we know that we are going to give something for it as well, sometimes with our lives.

    NR: For you, is this a protest about whether women wear the hijab? Or is it something much bigger than that?

    It is about something much bigger than that. If you look at the slogans at the protests, what people are saying on the streets, it has never been – even at the beginning – about the hijab. The hijab was just the spark. It has always been about basic human rights. We’ve always wanted more. We’ve wanted what you might take for granted as a normal life. We want life, liberty, justice, accountability, freedom of choice and assembly, and a free press. We want access to our basic human rights and an inclusive government that is actually elected by the people through a proper election and that works for the people.

    NR: We are not using your real name for this interview. Are you taking a risk speaking to the BBC?

    Yes, it’s a great risk because it is considered a crime in Iran if you speak to foreign news broadcasts. You might easily get arrested, punished, or imprisoned. The consequences are severe.

    NR: Do you have hope that the change that you so desperately want might happen this time?

    Hope is all we have and I am willing to stick to it. I hope at least our voices will be heard. That’s all I can say about this.

    DISCLAIMER: Independentghana.com will not be liable for any inaccuracies contained in this article. The views expressed in the article are solely those of the author’s and do not reflect those of The Independent Ghana

    Source: bbc.com

     

  • Iran protests: Germany requests sanctions in response to the brutal repression

    The foreign minister of Germany has demanded that perpetrators behind Iran’s harsh crackdown on demonstrators be brought to justice.

    According to Annalena Baerbock Germany, would see to it that the EU froze assets and enforced entry restrictions.

    She referred to those on “the wrong side of history” as those who “beat up ladies and girls on the street.”

    EU foreign ministers are expected to decide on sanctions on 17 October, according to Reuters news agency.

    Speaking to a German newspaper, Baerbock also criticised those who “condemn to death people who want nothing other than to live free”.

    She told Iranians: “We stand by you, and will continue to do so.”

    The proposed sanctions come after the death of Mahsa Amini sparked demonstrations throughout the country.

    The 22-year-old died in custody after being detained by Iran’s morality police on 16 September.

    Dozens of Iranians have lost their lives after taking to the streets to protest Ms Amini’s death.

    The Iran Human Rights group, based in Norway, said at least 185 people – including 19 children – had died since the unrest began.

    Iran’s state media say 20 members of the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps, police, and security forces have been killed.

    Videos and images circulating on social media over the weekend appeared to show Iran’s security services entering schools and universities.

    Female students at a university in Tehran were reported to have chanted “get lost” to President Ebrahim Raisi when he visited on Saturday.

    Saturday also saw the country’s state television channel hacked.

    Viewers saw a mask appear on their screens followed by an image of the supreme leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, surrounded by flames.

    Many in Iran are now calling for the end of Islamic clerical rule.

     

     

  • Nika Shakarami: Close source says Iran protester’s family forced to lie about death

    According to a source close to the family, relatives of a child who was killed during protests in Iran have been coerced into giving false statements.

    On September 20, Nika Shakarami, 16, vanished from Tehran after telling a friend she was being pursued by authorities.

    On Wednesday night, a state TV report showed her aunt, Atash, saying: “Nika was killed falling from a building.”

    Her uncle was also seen on TV speaking against the unrest, as someone seems to whisper to him: “Say it, you scumbag!”

    The source told BBC Persian that these were both “forced confessions” that came “after intense interrogations and being threatened that other family members would be killed”.

    Atash and Nika’s uncle, Mohsen, were detained by authorities after Atash posted messages online about her niece’s death and spoke to the media. The televised statements were recorded before they were released, according to the source.

    Relatives of a girl who died during protests in Iran have been forced into making false statements, a source close to the family has told BBC Persian.

    Nika Shakarami, 16, went missing in Tehran on 20 September after telling a friend she was being chased by police.

    On Wednesday night, a state TV report showed her aunt, Atash, saying: “Nika was killed falling from a building.”

    Her uncle was also seen on TV speaking against the unrest, as someone seems to whisper to him: “Say it, you scumbag!”

    The source told BBC Persian that these were both “forced confessions” that came “after intense interrogations and being threatened that other family members would be killed”.

    Atash and Nika’s uncle, Mohsen, were detained by authorities after Atash posted messages online about her niece’s death and spoke to the media. The televised statements were recorded before they were released, according to the source.

    Relatives of a girl who died during protests in Iran have been forced into making false statements, a source close to the family has told BBC Persian.

    Nika Shakarami, 16, went missing in Tehran on 20 September after telling a friend she was being chased by police.

    On Wednesday night, a state TV report showed her aunt, Atash, saying: “Nika was killed falling from a building.”

    Her uncle was also seen on TV speaking against the unrest, as someone seems to whisper to him: “Say it, you scumbag!”

    The source told BBC Persian that these were both “forced confessions” that came “after intense interrogations and being threatened that other family members would be killed”.

    Atash and Nika’s uncle, Mohsen, were detained by authorities after Atash posted messages online about her niece’s death and spoke to the media. The televised statements were recorded before they were released, according to the source.

    Atash told BBC Persian prior to her arrest on Sunday that the Revolutionary Guards had told her that Nika was in their custody for five days and then handed over to prison authorities.

    The judiciary has said that on the night she disappeared Nika went into a building where eight construction workers were present and that she was found dead in the yard outside the next morning.

    Tehran judiciary official Mohammad Shahriari was cited by state media as saying on Wednesday that a post-mortem showed Nika suffered “multiple fractures… in the pelvis, head, upper and lower limbs, arms and legs, which indicate that the person was thrown from a height”.

    He declared that this proved her death was nothing to do with the protests.

    However, a death certificate issued by a cemetery in the capital, which was obtained by BBC Persian, states that she died after suffering “multiple injuries caused by blows with a hard object”.

    Nika’s Instagram and Telegram accounts were also deleted after she went missing, according to Atash. Iranian security forces are known to demand that detainees give them access to social media accounts so that the accounts or certain posts can be deleted.

    Wednesday night’s state TV report also featured footage in which Atash was seen confirming that her niece’s body was found outside the building mentioned by the judiciary, even though that contradicted previous statements made by her and other members of the family.

    The family has said they located Nika’s body at the mortuary of a detention centre 10 days after she went missing, and that they were only allowed by officials to see her face for a few seconds in order to identify her. Atash said before she was detained that she did not go to the mortuary.

    Nika’s family transferred her body to her father’s hometown of Khorramabad, in the west of the country, on Sunday – on what would have been her 17th birthday.

    A source close to them told BBC Persian that the family agreed, under duress from authorities, not to hold a public funeral. But, the source said, security forces then “stole” Nika’s body from Khorramabad and secretly buried it in the village of Veysian, about 40km (25 miles) away.

    Hundreds of protesters later gathered in Khorramabad’s cemetery and chanted slogans against the government, including “death to the dictator” – a reference to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei.

    Photos of Hadis Najafi (L) and Sarina Esmailzadeh (R)
    IMAGE SOURCE,TIKTOK/FACEBOOK Image caption, Hadis Najafi, 22, and Sarina Esmailzadeh, 16, died after taking part in protests in the city of Karaj

    Nika is not the only young female protester to have been killed during the unrest that erupted last month following the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman who was detained by the morality police for allegedly violating the Islamic Republic’s strict hijab law.

    The family of Hadis Najafi, 22, have said that she was shot dead by security forces while protesting in the city of Karaj, west of Tehran, on 21 September. Officials allegedly asked her father to say that she died of a heart attack.

    Another 16-year-old girl, Sarina Esmailzadeh, died after being severely beaten on the head with batons by security forces during protests in Karaj on 23 September, Amnesty International cited a source as saying. The source also told the human rights group that security and intelligence agents had harassed the girl’s family to coerce them into silence.

    Several videos made by Sarina before her death have now been posted on social media. In one record after finishing some school exams, she says: “Nothing feels better than freedom.”

     

     

  • EU parliament speech: Swedish MEP cuts her hair in solidarity with Iranian women after Mahsa Amini’s death

    Following the passing of Mahsa Amini, a Swedish MEP cut off her ponytail while speaking in the EU assembly in a gesture of solidarity with Iranian women.

    Women around the world have been taking to social media over the last few weeks to share their hair-cutting videos since the news of Miss Amini’s death emerged.

    Protests in Iran began after the 22-year-old died while in the custody of the country’s morality police.

    She was accused of breaking laws that require women to cover their hair with a hijab.

    She was accused of breaking laws that require women to cover their hair with a hijab.

    Iraqi-born MEP Abir Al-Sahlani was talking about the oppression of women in Iran during the assembly meeting in Strasbourg.

    “Until the women of Iran are free, we are going to stand with you.”

    She ended her speech by saying “Jin, Jiyan, Azadi” – Kurdish for “Woman, Life, Freedom” – as she snipped off her ponytail and held it up.

    Iran requires women to wear the hijab so that it covers their hair completely.

    Miss Amini collapsed at a police station and died three days after she was arrested for wearing it too loosely.

    Iranian police say she died of a heart attack and was not mistreated, but her family have cast doubt on that account.

    Thousands of women across the world have been cutting their hair – a movement now spreading to celebrities, politicians, and campaigners.

    French actresses, including Juliette Binoche, Marion Cotillard, and Isabelle Huppert, have also taken part.

    58-year-old Binoche, who has appeared in films such as The English Patient, Chocolat, and Godzilla, was seen in video footage clipping off a handful of her hair and declaring: “For freedom.”

    In the video posted by soutienfemmesiran (Support for Women of Iran), text was shown that read: “Mahsa Amini was abused by the morality police until death followed.

    “All she stood accused of was wearing her veil in an inappropriate manner.

    “She died for having a few locks of her hair exposed.”

    Last week Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe cut her hair to show her support for the women of Iran.

    The British-Iranian citizen, who spent six years in jail in Iran, recorded a video of herself taking a pair of scissors to her hair.

     

  • Iran protests: Schoolgirls jeer at paramilitary speaker

    A recent online video appears to show schoolgirls heckling at a member of Iran’s dreaded paramilitary Basij force after nationwide anti-government demonstrations spread to the classroom.

    The teenagers wave their headscarves in the air and shout “get lost, Basiji” at the man, who was asked to address them.

    The BBC could not verify reports that it was filmed in Shiraz on Tuesday.

    The Basij has helped security forces crack down on the protests sparked by the death in custody of a young woman.

    Other footage circulated on social media shows a man shouting “death to the dictator” as another group of girls walk through traffic in the north-western city of Sanandaj and an elderly woman clapping as unveiled schoolgirls chant “freedom, freedom, freedom” at a protest on a street.

    In a fourth video, a teacher appears to threaten students with expulsion if they do not cover their heads after they stage a sit-down protest in a schoolyard.

    And a fifth, reportedly filmed in the city of Karaj, shows schoolgirls seen screaming and running from a man, thought to be a member of the security forces in plainclothes, who is driving a motorcycle along a pavement.

    The unrest was triggered by the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman who fell into a coma hours after being detained by morality police on 13 September in Tehran for allegedly breaking the strict law requiring women to cover their hair with a hijab, or headscarf. She died in hospital three days later.

    Her family has alleged that officers beat her head with a baton and banged her head against one of their vehicles. The police have denied that she was mistreated and said she suffered a heart attack.

    The first protests took place in north-western Iran, where Ms Amini was from, and then spread rapidly across the country.

    Young women have been at the forefront of the unrest, but it was not until Monday that schoolgirls began participating publicly in large numbers.

    It came a day after security forces briefly besieged the prestigious Sharif University of Technology in Tehran in response to a protest on the campus. Dozens of students were reportedly beaten, blindfolded and taken away.

    Monday also saw the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, break his silence on the unrest and accuse the US and Israel, Iran’s arch-enemies, of orchestrating “riots”. He also gave his full backing to the security forces, which have been accused by human rights groups of killing dozens of people.

    On Tuesday, there were reports that the death toll resulting from clashes between security personnel and anti-government protesters in the south-eastern city of Zahedan had risen to 83.

    Zahedan is the capital of Sistan Baluchistan province, which borders both Pakistan and Afghanistan, and has a sizeable Sunni Muslim population.

    Authorities have said the security forces were attacked by armed Baluchi separatists – something the imam of the city’s biggest mosque has denied.

    The violence erupted on Friday, when protesters surrounded a police station and officers opened fire.

    Tensions in the city had been compounded by the alleged rape of a 15-year-old girl by a police chief elsewhere in Sistan Baluchistan.

    Iranian riot police stand in a street in Tehran, Iran (3 October 2022)
    IMAGE SOURCE,WANA NEWS AGENCY VIA REUTERS Image caption, Iran’s supreme leader has called on security forces to be ready to deal with more unrest if necessary

    In another development on Tuesday, state media cited Tehran’s chief prosecutor as saying the judiciary had opened an investigation into the death of Nika Shakarami, a 16-year-old girl who went missing after taking part in protests in the capital on 20 September.

    Her aunt has said that in her last message Nika told a friend that she was being chased by police, and that her family found her body in a mortuary at a detention centre 10 days later.

    Sources close to the family told BBC Persian that before they could bury Nika, security forces stole her body and buried it secretly in a village 40km (25 miles) from her father’s hometown of Khorramabad, in the west of the country.

     

     

  • Iranian schoolgirls protest against the government by taking off their hijabs

    In an unprecedented display of support for the protests rocking the nation, Iranian schoolgirls have been yelling against clerical authorities and waving their hijabs in the air.

    Videos verified by the BBC showed demonstrations inside schoolyards and on the streets of several cities.

    They echoed the wider unrest sparked by the death last month of a woman who was detained for breaking the hijab law.

    In Karaj, girls reportedly forced an education official out of their school.

    Footage posted on social media on Monday showed them shouting “shame on you” and throwing what appear to be empty water bottles at the man until he retreats through a gate.

    In another video from Karaj, which is just to the west of the capital Tehran, students are heard shouting: “If we don’t unite, they will kill us one by one.”

    In the southern city of Shiraz on Monday, dozens of schoolgirls blocked traffic on the main road while waving their headscarves in the air and shouting “death to the dictator” – a reference to the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the final say on all state matters.

    Further protests by schoolgirls were reported on Tuesday in Karaj, Tehran, and the north-western cities of Saqez and Sanandaj.

    A number of students were also photographed standing in their classrooms with their heads uncovered.

    Some were raising their middle fingers – an obscene gesture – at portraits of Ayatollah Khamenei and the founder of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

    Iranian schoolgirls without headscarves raise their middle fingers towards portraits of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
    IMAGE SOURCE,TWITTER Image caption, The protests by the schoolgirls began hours after Iran’s supreme leader defended the government’s response

     

  • Iran protests: Supreme Leader accuses US and Israel of inciting unrest

    In his first public remarks on the unrest, Iran’s supreme leader blamed the US and Israel for the anti-government rallies sweeping the nation.

    Ayatollah Ali Khamenei claimed that Qurans had been destroyed and said that “riots” had been “manufactured” by Iran’s fiercest foes and friends.

    Additionally, he urged security forces to be prepared to handle any future unrest.

    The protests – the biggest challenge to his rule for a decade – were sparked by the death in custody of a woman.

    Mahsa Amini, 22, fell into a coma hours after being detained by morality police on 13 September in Tehran for allegedly breaking the strict law requiring women to cover their hair with a hijab, or headscarf. She died three days later.

    Her family has alleged that officers beat her head with a baton and banged her head against one of their vehicles. The police have said there is no evidence of any mistreatment and that she suffered “sudden heart failure”.

    Women have led the protests that began after Ms Amini’s funeral, waving their headscarves in the air or setting them on fire to chants of “Woman, life, freedom” and “Death to the dictator” – a reference to Ayatollah Khamenei.

     

    1px transparent line

    Addressing a graduation ceremony of police and armed forces cadets on Monday, the supreme leader said Ms Amini’s death “broke our hearts”.

    “But what is not normal is that some people, without proof or an investigation, have made the streets dangerous, burned the Quran, removed hijabs from veiled women and set fire to mosques and cars,” he added, without mentioning any specific incidents.

    The ayatollah, who has the final say on all state matters, asserted that foreign powers had planned “rioting” because they could not tolerate Iran “attaining strength in all spheres”.

    “I say clearly that these riots and the insecurity were engineered by America and the occupying, false Zionist regime [Israel], as well as their paid agents, with the help of some traitorous Iranians abroad.”

    He also gave his full backing to the security forces, saying that they had faced “injustice” during the unrest.

    Iran Human Rights, a Norway-based group, said on Sunday that at least 133 people had been killed by security forces so far. They include 41 protesters whom ethnic Baluch activists said had died in clashes in Zahedan on Friday.

    State media have reported that more than 40 people have been killed,including security personnel.

    Ayatollah Khamenei’s comments came a day after security forces violently cracked down on a protest by students at Iran’s most prestigious science and engineering university, reportedly arresting dozens.

    The BBC’s Kasra Naji says the gunfire heard around the campus of Sharif University of Technology in Tehran on Sunday night spread fear among many Iranians that authorities had decided to make an example of the students.

    Security forces tried to the enter the campus, but the students drove them back and closed all the entrance gates.

    But, our correspondent adds, a siege developed and the students who tried to leave through an adjacent car park were picked up one by one and beaten, blindfolded and taken away.

    In one video posted on social media, a large number of people are seen running inside a car park while being pursued by men on motorbikes.

    The siege was lifted later in the night following the intervention of professors and a government minister.

    On Monday, students at the university announced that they would not go back to classes until all of their fellow students had been released from detention. The university meanwhile said it had moved classes online, citing “the need to protect students”.

    Protests were also reported at several otheruniversities around the country.

     

  • Iran protests: Students stuck in Tehran during protests in Iran, reports

    Iranian police and students battled on Sunday at one of the nation’s most prestigious institutions according to reports in the official media and social media.

    Reports say a large number of students at Sharif University in Tehran have been trapped in the campus car park.

    Videos on social media appear to show students running away from security forces, with apparent gunshots fired.

    Anti-government protests erupted in Iran in September after the death of a woman detained by the morality police.

    Mahsa Amini, 22, fell into a coma hours after morality police arrested her for allegedly breaking headscarf rules.

    Officers reportedly beat Ms Amini’s head with a baton and banged her head against one of their vehicles. The police have said there is no evidence of any mistreatment and that she suffered “sudden heart failure”.

    Protests started at her funeral and have spread across the country to become the worst unrest seen in the country for years.

    One video posted on social media shows students running from security forces on Sharif university’s campus. Sounds resembling gunshots can be heard from a distance.

    In another, security forces on motorbikes appear to shoot at a car holding the passenger filming the video.

    Iran International cites reports which say security forces attacked student dormitories and fired guns at their dorms. Other reports mention the use of tear gas on protesters.

    Sunday was the first day of term for many students attending Sharif university for the first time. Reports say crowds had gathered outside the campus’s main gate late in the evening after hearing about the clashes.

    The BBC is unable to verify the events at the university.

    The last two nights have seen an escalation in anti-government protests in Tehran and many other cities across the country, despite a growing death toll.

    Iran Human Rights, an NGO based in Norway, says 133 people have been killed across Iran to date.

    Authorities have promised to come down hard on the protesters, who they say have been put up to it by Iran’s external enemies.

  • In the third week of unrest  protesters gather across Iran following Amini’s demise

    As protests against the murder of a woman in police custody reached their third week, demonstrators protested all throughout Iran on Saturday, and strikes were reported all over the country’s Kurdish region.

    The protests, sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old from Iranian Kurdistan, have spiralled into the biggest show of opposition to Iran’s clerical authorities since 2019, with dozens killed in unrest across the country.

    People demonstrated in London and Paris and elsewhere on Saturday in solidarity with Iranian protesters, some holding pictures of Amini, who died three days after being arrested by the Islamic Republic’s morality police for “unsuitable attire”.

    In Iran, social media posts showed rallies in large cities including Tehran, Isfahan, Rasht, and Shiraz.

    In Tehran’s traditional business district of Bazaar, anti-government protesters chanted “We will be killed one by one if we don’t unite”, while elsewhere they blocked the main road with a fence torn from the central reservation, videos shared by the widely followed Tavsir1500 Twitter account showed.

    Students also demonstrated at numerous universities. At Tehran University, dozens were detained, Tavsir1500 said. The semi-official Fars news agency said some protesters were arrested in a square near the university.

    Tavsir1500 also posted what it said was a video taken at the gates of Isfahan University during which shots could be heard. A separate video showed tear gas being fired at the university, dispersing a group of people.

    The protests began at Amini’s funeral on Sept. 17 and spread to Iran’s 31 provinces, with all layers of society, including ethnic and religious minorities, taking part and many demanding Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s downfall.

    Amnesty International has said a government crackdown on demonstrations has so far led to the death of at least 52 people, with hundreds injured. Rights groups say dozens of activists, students and artists have been detained.

    In London, about 2,500 people staged a noisy protest in Trafalgar Square. Few women among the mostly Iranian crowd agreed to be interviewed on camera, fearful of identification and reprisals by the authorities.

    In central Paris, a crowd of several dozen people gathered to show support for Iranian protesters, holding Iranian flags and pictures of victims who have died in the protests.

    Iran’s battered currency approached historic lows reached in June as desperate Iranians bought dollars to protect their savings amid little hope Tehran’s nuclear deal with world powers would be revived and concerns over the economic consequences of the unrest.

    The rial fell to 331,200 per U.S. dollar, compared to 321,200 on Friday, according to the foreign exchange site Bonbast.com. The currency had plummeted to an all-time low of 332,000 per dollar on June 12.

    ATTACK IN ZAHEDAN

    Iranian authorities say many members of the security forces have been killed, accusing the United States of exploiting the unrest to try to destabilise Iran.

    The Revolutionary Guards said four members of its forces and the volunteer Basij militia were killed on Friday in attacks in Zahedan, the capital of the southeastern Sistan-Baluchistan province.

    State television had said on Friday that 19 people, including members of the security forces, had been killed in Zahedan after unidentified individuals opened fire on a police station, prompting security forces to return fire.

    Guards Commander-in-Chief Hossein Salami vowed revenge, calling the dead “martyrs of Black Friday”.

    A lawmaker from Zahedan said security had been restored to the city on Saturday, a semi-official news agency reported.

    Authorities blamed a separatist group from the Baluchi minority for starting the shootout in Zahedan. State media said two prominent militants linked to that group had been killed.

    IRNA posted a video showing destroyed cars, an overturned and burning trailer or bus, and fires in burnt-out buildings and shops, describing it as footage of “what the terrorists did to people’s shops last night in Zahedan”.

    Reuters could not verify the footage.

    Protests have been particularly intense in Iran’s Kurdistan region, where authorities have previously put down unrest by the Kurdish minority numbering up to 10 million.

    Fearing an ethnic uprising, and in a show of power, Iran fired missiles and flew drones to attack targets in neighbouring northern Iraq’s Kurdish region this week after accusing Iranian Kurdish dissidents of being involved in the unrest.

    Shops and businesses were on strike in 20 northwestern cities and towns on Saturday in protest against attacks on Iraq-based armed Kurdish opposition parties by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, the Kurdish rights group Hengaw reported.

    It also said security forces had fired at protesters in Dehgolan and Saqez, Amini’s hometown.

  • Iran hijab protests: TikToker Hadis Najafi, 23, shot dead

    Hadis Najafi took to the streets of Karaj last week in protest at Iran’s hijab mandate and was shot dead. She was not openly outspoken about women’s liberation but enjoyed sharing her life with her followers on social media.

    She was not an activist or openly outspoken online about women’s liberation, but she was still gunned down in her home city campaigning for her right to live and dress how she wanted.

    Hadis Najafi, 23, took to the streets of Karaj last week to speak out against Iran’s strict hijab mandateand was shot dead.

    Her death has fuelled further anger in a country already reckoning with the strict rule of the so-called morality police.

    Part of Iran’s Generation Z, Hadis was a young woman who grew up in the age of the internet and social media.

    Like Zoomers everywhere, these digital natives are connected to the rest of the world in a way their parents could never have imagined.

    Hopes for a better future

    An avid user of TikTok and Instagram, Hadis enjoyed sharing her life with her followers on social media.

    She was not openly outspoken about women’s liberation, but she posted videos on her TikTok account dancing to the latest viral trend, including to pop music and Iranian singers.

    Her social media would not have looked out of place anywhere in the world. Smiling and pouting at the camera, she danced around her room in bright clothing.

    She worked as a cashier at a restaurant and loved sharing fashion on her Instagram, styling her hair both with and without her hijab – but only in the safety of her home or other private places.

    Hijabs are mandatory in public for all women in Iran, regardless of religion or nationality.

    A close friend described her as “always happy and energetic”.

    But then violence erupted after another young woman, Mahsa Amini, 22, died in police custody on 16 September. She had been detained, allegedly, for wearing her hijab too loosely.

    Outcry over her death has boiled over into some of the biggest protests in the country for years and the anger of a generation of women who had grown used to freedom online poured out on to the streets.

    Women removed their head coverings and burnt them as others recorded the scenes on mobile phones, uploading them to social media where they have been shared worldwide.

    To make it difficult for protesters, the authorities have restricted internet access in several provinces, according to internet blockage observatory NetBlocks.

    Sky News spoke to one of Hadis’s close friends on Instagram and asked if she had been scared when she set off on 21 September.

    “Several nurses… told her family to run, because Hadis had been at the protests so they might also be targeted if the police came,” her friend said.

    “The husband of one of Hadis’s sisters works for the Basij [an Iranian paramilitary volunteer militia], so they let him go into the mortuary to do the formal identification. Only him.

    “They didn’t let her family see her.”

    After two days, the family agreed with authorities not to have a public funeral: “What I tell you now comes from her family,” Hadis’s friend said.

     

    View this post on Instagram

     

    A post shared by HADIS NAJAFI (@hadisnajafi78)

    “On Friday morning they let her crying mother and sisters see her face, to make sure they were burying the right person. There wasn’t a real funeral because of the agreement.

    “After she was buried, her sisters Afsoon and Shirin decided to publish her photos and tell people she was shot. The authorities didn’t want people to say she was shot, they were told to say she’d died in a car crash, or a brain injury, that she’d died a natural death.”

    Masked forces shoot directly at protesters

    Ebrahim Raisi, the Iranian president, has vowed to investigate Ms Amini’s death but said that the authorities would not tolerate any threats to public security.

    He said protesters should be “dealt with decisively” and the subsequent crackdown by authorities has been swift, brutal, and violent.

    On 21 September, the footage was first shared online of masked men shooting directly and from close range at protesters on Eram Boulevard, where her friend said Hadis was last seen alive.

    The location of this clip was verified by Sky News by cross-referencing the car dealership in the background with images of the street shared on Google Maps.

    iran osint

    Although Hadis is not in this clip it indicates it is not the only time Iranian police have been accused of using excessive force on protesters.

    And Hadis is not the only woman to have been killed. The names of at least four other women alleged to have died in the protests have gone viral in the past week.

     

  • Iran is coping with its worst challenge in years

    The most significant challenge Iran’s leadership has faced in recent years is the outbreak of nationwide protests that followed the murder in police custody of a 22-year-old Kurdish woman held for allegedly breaking hijab (headscarf) laws.

    While authorities say Mahsa Amini died from underlying health reasons, her family and countless other Iranians believe she died as a result of having been beaten.

    Protesters say that if they don’t act now, they could fall victim to the same fate.

    It has come at a time when Iranians are feeling particularly fed up. Systematic corruption among Iran’s political elite, growing poverty with inflation at more than 50%, deadlock in nuclear talks, and lack of social and political freedom have left Iran’s young and vibrant population feeling hopeless.

    According to Iran’s Social Security Organization Research Institute, at least 25 million Iranians were living below the poverty line by June 2021. That number is even higher now.

    These are not the first protests in the history of the Islamic Republic of Iran. But many observers believe there is something different about them.

    More than anything, this is a woman’s protest.

    ‘Society has shifted’

    Civil liberties groups continually spotlight the suppression of women in Iran, an entire part of society who have been the biggest losers of the Islamic revolution of 1979.

    Iranian women were forced to wear hijabs (headscarves) soon after the revolution and have lost many of their rights, including the right to travel, the right to work, and the right to child custody over the age of seven. There was little objection to these changes from men at the time.

    “The fact that many men are joining the protests shows that the society has shifted to more progressive demands,” says Mehrdad Darvishpour, an Iranian sociologist based in Sweden.

    The main slogan of protesters is “Woman, Life, Freedom”, a call for equality and a stance against religious fundamentalism.

    Also, these protests are far more inclusive than the previous ones.

    The so-called Green Movement of 2009 saw the middle class protest against alleged election fraud. Although it was large in size, it centered on major cities. Other major protests in 2017 and 2019 were confined to poorer areas.

    But the current protests are now being reported in both middle-class and working-class areas. They seem to have moved from local or ethnic issues to more inclusive ones.

    “We are witnessing the birth of a mega-movement,” says Mr Darvishpour.

    A movement that was being led by women but has managed to bring other movements together. And more importantly, the symbolic value of burning hijabs, has cracked the image of an unbreakable regime.

    According to Mr Darvishpour, there is no going back from this experience.

    Government’s options

    The establishment is in a very difficult place. The death of Mahsa Amini has even shaken some of the hardcore supporters of the government.

    Many of them, including some clerics, are questioning the violent tactics that are being used by morality police against women.

    So, the government has two options: To change its strict hijab rules, which are part of the identity of the Islamic republic. But doing so may encourage protesters to continue until they reach their final demand for regime change.

    Or not to change anything and continue the violent crackdown and killing of protesters, which may briefly calm down the unrest but will only add fuel to their ever-growing anger.

    Many of the riot police that is now suppressing the protests are also suffering from economic difficulties and are not necessarily supportive of the establishment.

    If these protests continue they might switch sides.

    On top of that, the Supreme Leader’s 83 years of age and his ill health is on the mind of many Iranians on both sides.

    It’s unclear whether whoever succeeds him will be able to sustain the support of the regime’s hardcore supporters or not.

    This might not be the final chapter, but it is a very important one.

    Lives are being lost, but more cracks are appearing in a system that is no longer working for many angry Iranians who want a different way of life.

  • Iran protests: Mahsa Amini’s death draws attention to morality police

    The death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini after she was detained by Iran’s so-called morality police has sparked angry protests, with women burning their headscarves in a defiant act of resistance against the Islamic Republic’s strict dress code and those enforcing it.

    The Gasht-e Ershad (Guidance Patrols) are special police units tasked with ensuring the respect of Islamic morals and detaining people who are perceived to be “improperly” dressed.

    Under Iranian law, which is based on the country’s interpretation of Sharia, women are obliged to cover their hair with a hijab (headscarf) and wear long, loose-fitting clothing to disguise their figures.

    Ms Amini allegedly had some hair visible under her headscarf when she was arrested by morality police in Tehran on 13 September. She fell into a coma shortly after collapsing at a detention centre and died three days later in hospital. The force denied reports that officers beat her head with a baton and banged it against one of their vehicles.

    In a rare interview, one morality police officer spoke anonymously to the BBC about his experience working in the force.

    “They told us the reason we are working for the morality police units is to protect women,” he said. “Because if they do not dress properly, then men could get provoked and harm them.”

    He said they worked in teams of six, comprising four men and two women, and focused on areas with high foot traffic and where crowds gather.

    “It’s weird, because if we are just going to guide people why do we need to pick somewhere busy that potentially means we could arrest more people?”

    “It’s like we are going out for a hunt.”

    The officer added that his commander would tell him off or say he was not working properly if he did not identify enough people violating the dress code, and that he found it particularly difficult when people resisted arrest.

    “They expect us to force them inside the van. Do you know how many times I was in tears while doing it?”

    “I want to tell them I am not one of them. Most of us are ordinary soldiers going through our mandatory military service. I feel so bad.”

    Post-revolutionary decree

    The Iranian authorities’ fight against “bad hijab” – wearing a headscarf or other mandatory clothing incorrectly – began soon after the 1979 Islamic Revolution, a major aim of which was to make women dress modestly.

    While many women were doing so at the time, miniskirts and uncovered hair were not uncommon sights on the streets of Tehran before the pro-Western Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi was overthrown. His wife Farah, who often wore Western clothing, was held up as an example of a modern woman.

    Women protesting in Iran in March 1979 with their hair uncovered
    IMAGE SOURCE,GETTY IMAGES Image caption, The anti-hijab protests that erupted in Iran in March 1979 carried on for several days

    Within months of the founding of the Islamic Republic, the laws protecting women’s rights that had been established under the Shah began to be repealed.

    “It didn’t happen overnight, it was a step-by-step process,” said Mehrangiz Kar, 78, a human rights lawyer and activist who helped organise the first anti-hijab protest.

    “Right after the revolution there were men and women on the streets offering out free headscarves to women wrapped in gift paper.”

    A group of women protest against wearing the Islamic veil, while waving their veils in the air outside the office of the Prime Minister, Tehran, Iran, 6th July 1980
    IMAGE SOURCE,GETTY IMAGES Image caption, Women were waving headscarves in the air in resistance in the earlier anti-hijab protests of the 1980s

    On 7 March 1979, the leader of the revolution, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, decreed that hijabs would be mandatory for all women in their workplaces and that he considered uncovered women to be “naked”.

    “That speech was received by many revolutionaries as an order to force the hijab on women’s heads,” said Mrs Kar, who is now based in Washington DC. “Many thought this was going to happen overnight, so women started resisting.”

    They responded immediately. More than 100,000 people, mostly women, gathered in the streets of Tehran the following day – International Women’s Day – to protest.

    ‘We got creative’

    Despite Ayatollah’s Khomeini’s decree, it took some time for authorities to decide what was considered “proper” clothing for women.

    “There were no clear instructions, so [they] came up with posters and banners showing models, which were hung on office walls. They said women should follow these instructions [about wearing a hijab] or they cannot enter,” explained Mrs Kar.

    Woman holding hijab above her head
    IMAGE SOURCE,BBC PERSIAN Image caption, Pictures posted after Mahsa Amini’s death showed women taking off their headscarves in a nod to the earlier protests

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    By 1981, women and girls were legally required to wear modest “Islamic” clothing. In practice this meant wearing a chador – a full-body cloak, often accompanied by a smaller headscarf underneath – or a headscarf and a manteau (overcoat) covering their arms.

    “But the fight against the mandatory hijab continued on individual levels. We were creative in wearing the headscarf or not covering our hair properly,” Mrs Kar said.

    “Every single time they were stopping us, we were fighting.”

    In 1983, parliament decided that women who did not cover their hair in public could be punished with 74 lashes. More recently, it added the punishment of up to 60 days in prison.

    Authorities have nevertheless struggled to enforce the laws since then, and women of all ages are frequently seen pushing the boundaries in public by wearing tight-fitting, thigh-length coats and brightly coloured headscarves pushed back to expose plenty of hair.

    Heavy-handed approach

    The extent to which these rules have been enforced and the severity of punishments handed down have varied over the years according to which president has been in power.

    The ultra-conservative then-mayor of Tehran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, sought to appear more progressive on the issue when he was campaigning for the presidency in 2004. “People have different tastes, and we have to serve them all,” he said in a television interview.

    An Iranian morality policewoman walks past police vehicles ahead of a crackdown on women violating Iran's Islamic dress code in Tehran, Iran (23 July 2007)
    IMAGE SOURCE,AFP Image caption, Gasht-e Ershad officers have been accused of verbally and physically harassing women

    But soon after his election victory the following year, the Gasht-e Ershad were formally established. Until then, the dress codes had been policed informally by other law enforcement and paramilitary units.

    The morality police are often criticised by the public for their heavy-handed approach, and women are frequently detained and only released when a relative appears to provide assurances they will adhere to the rules in the future.

    “I was arrested with my daughter when we were stopped because of our lipstick,” one woman from the central city of Isfahan told the BBC.

    “They took us to the police station and asked my husband to come and sign a piece of paper that he would not let us out without a hijab.”

    Iranian newspapers on sale in Tehran show photographs of Mahsa Amini on 18 September 2022
    IMAGE SOURCE,WANA NEWS AGENCY Image caption, Questions about Mahsa Amini’s death dominated the front pages of Iranian newspapers on Sunday

    Another woman, from Tehran, told the BBC that a female officer said her boots could be “too erotic” for men and detained her.

    “I called my husband and asked him to bring me a pair of shoes,” she said.

    “I then signed a paper admitting I was wearing inappropriate clothing and I now have a criminal record.”

    Other reports of experiences with the morality police, which have been shared with the BBC, include beatings and more cruel and unusual punishments.

    One woman said the police threatened to put cockroaches on her body during one of her arrests.

    New crackdown

    President Ebrahim Raisi, a hard-line cleric who was elected last year, signed an order on 15 August to enforce a new list of restrictions.

    They included the introduction of surveillance cameras to monitor and fine unveiled women or refer them for “counselling”, and a mandatory prison sentence for any Iranian who questioned or posted content against the hijab rules online.

    Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi speaks at a news conference in Tehran (29 August 2022)
    IMAGE SOURCE,REUTERS Image caption, President Ebrahim Raisi issued a decree in August further curtailing women’s freedom of dress

    The restrictions led to an increase in arrests but also sparked a surge in women posting photos and videos of themselves without headscarves on social media – something that has only intensified in the days following Ms Amini’s death.

    Masih Alinejad, a journalist and activist now based in the US, says the protests which have erupted since the death of Ms Amini feel deeply personal.

    Over the years, she has run several viral campaigns against the hijab laws, including #mystealthyprotest and many, including the government, see her as an instrumental force behind the current unrest.

    Women began removing their headscarves and waving them in the air at Ms Amini’s funeral in western city of Saqez on Saturday.

    Source: CNN

     

  • Iran protests: Women burn headscarves in anti-hijab protests

    Female protesters have been at the forefront of escalating protests in Iran and have been burning headscarves, after the death in custody of a woman detained for breaking hijab laws.

    Demonstrations have continued for five successive nights, and reached several towns and cities.

    Mahsa Amini died in hospital on Friday after spending three days in a coma.

    In Sari, north of Tehran, large crowds cheered as women set their hijabs alight in defiant acts of protest.

    Ms Amini was arrested in the capital last week by Iran’s morality police, accused of breaking the law requiring women to cover their hair with a hijab, or headscarf, and their arms and legs with loose clothing.

    She fell into a coma shortly after collapsing at a detention centre.

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    There were reports that police beat Ms Amini’s head with a baton and banged her head against one of their vehicles, Acting UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Nada al-Nashif said.

    The police have denied that she was mistreated and said she suffered “sudden heart failure”. Ms Amini’s family has said she was fit and healthy.

    The 22-year-old was from Kurdistan Province in western Iran, where three people were killed on Monday as security forces opened fire on protesters.

    Mahsa Amini
    Image source, Mahsa Amini family. Image caption, Mahsa Amini, 22, died in hospital in Tehran on Friday

    “Mahsa Amini’s tragic death and allegations of torture and ill-treatment must be promptly, impartially and effectively investigated by an independent competent authority, that ensures, in particular, that her family has access to justice and truth,” Ms Nashif said.

    She noted that the UN had received “numerous, and verified, videos of violent treatment of women” as morality police expanded their street patrols in recent months to crack down on those perceived to be wearing “loose hijab”.

    “The authorities must stop targeting, harassing, and detaining women who do not abide by the hijab rules,” she added, calling for their repeal.

    An aide to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei paid a visit to Ms Amini’s family on Monday and told them that “all institutions will take action to defend the rights that were violated”, state media reported.

    Senior MP Jalal Rashidi Koochi publicly criticised the morality police, saying the force was a “mistake” as it had only produced “loss and damage” for Iran.

    What are Iran’s hijab laws?

    Following the 1979 Islamic Revolution, authorities in Iran imposed a mandatory dress code requiring all women to wear a headscarf and loose-fitting clothing that disguises their figures in public.

    Morality police – known formally as “Gasht-e Ershad” (Guidance Patrols) – are tasked, among other things, with ensuring women conform with the authorities’ interpretation of “proper” clothing. Officers have the power to stop women and assess whether they are showing too much hair; their trousers and overcoats are too short or close-fitting; or they are wearing too much make-up. Punishments for violating the rules include a fine, prison or flogging.

    In 2014, Iranian women began sharing photos and videos of themselves publicly flouting the hijab laws as part of an online protest campaign called “My Stealthy Freedom”. It has since inspired other movements, including “White Wednesdays” and “Girls of Revolution Street”.

    Ms Nashif also condemned “the reported unnecessary or disproportionate use of force” against the thousands of people who have taken in part in protests against the morality police and the hijab since Mahsa Amini’s death.

    Hengaw, a Norway-based organisation that monitors human rights in predominantly Kurdish areas, said 38 people were injured on Saturday and Sunday when riot police fired live ammunition, rubber bullets and tear gas at protests in Saqez and Sanandaj, the capital of Iran’s Kurdistan province.

    The group reported that three male protesters were shot and killed in clashes with security forces on Monday – one in Saqez and two others in the towns of Divandarreh and Dehgolan – as the unrest escalated. It had previously reported the death of a second man in Divandarreh, but relatives said he was in a critical condition in hospital.

    In Tehran, videos posted online showed women taking off their headscarves and shouting “death to the dictator” – a chant often used in reference to the Supreme Leader. Others shouted “justice, liberty, no to mandatory hijab”. In the northern province of Gilan, protesters also clashed with police.

    A woman who took part in a protest on Monday night in the northern city of Rasht sent BBC Persian photographs of what she said were bruises she suffered as a result of being beaten by riot police with batons and hoses.]

    “[The police] kept firing tear gas. Our eyes were burning,” she said. “We were running away, [but] they cornered me and beat me. They were calling me a prostitute and saying I was out in the street to sell myself.

    Another woman who protested in the central city of Isfahan told the BBC’s Ali Hamedani: “While we were waving our headscarves in the sky I felt so emotional to be surrounded and protected by other men. It feels great to see this unity. I hope the world supports us.”

    Tehran Governor Mohsen Mansouri tweeted on Tuesday that the protests were “fully organised with the agenda to create unrest”, while state TV alleged that Ms Amini’s death was being used as an “excuse” by Kurdish separatists and critics of the establishment.

    Source: BBC

     

  • Anti-hijab demonstrations: UN alarm as Iran cracks down on anti-hijab protests

    Concern over the Iranian government’s handling of demonstrations caused by the death in detention of a woman being held for violating hijab laws has been expressed by the UN.

    As men, women, and children took to the streets of Kurdistan province for a fourth day on Monday, security personnel reportedly opened fire, killing three people, according to human rights organizations.

    Tehran also saw demonstrations.

    The UN urged Iran’s leaders to allow peaceful demonstrations and launch an impartial probe into the woman’s death.

    Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old ethnic Kurd from the western city of Saqez, died in hospital on Friday after spending three days in a coma.

    She was with her brother in Tehran on Tuesday when she was arrested by the morality police, who accused her of breaking the law requiring women to cover their hair with a hijab, or headscarf, and their arms and legs with loose clothing. She fell into a coma shortly after collapsing at a detention centre.

    Acting UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Nada Al-Nashif said there were reports that Ms Amini was beaten on the head with a baton by morality police officers and that her head was banged against one of their vehicles.

    The police have denied that she was mistreated and said she suffered “sudden heart failure”. But her family has said she was fit and healthy.

    Mahsa Amini
    IMAGE SOURCE, MAHSA AMINI FAMILY Image caption, The acting UN rights chief called for Mahsa Amini’s family to get “access to justice and truth”

    “Mahsa Amini’s tragic death and allegations of torture and ill-treatment must be promptly, impartially, and effectively investigated by an independent competent authority, that ensures, in particular, that her family has access to justice and truth,” Ms Al-Nashif said.

    She noted that the UN had received “numerous, and verified, videos of violent treatment of women” as morality police expanded their street patrols in recent months to crack down on those perceived to be wearing “loose hijab”.

    “The authorities must stop targeting, harassing, and detaining women who do not abide by the hijab rules,” she added, calling for their repeal.

    An aide to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei paid a visit to Ms Amini’s family on Monday and told them that “all institutions will take action to defend the rights that were violated”, state media reported.

  • SSNIT allows hijab as part of corporate dress

    After MUYAD Social Services (MSS) petition against the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) about alleged religious dressing discrimination against Ms Rabiatu Mohammed, a national service candidate posted to SSNIT Tarkwa branch, SSNIT has responded to the petition.

    In the petition, MSS sought to request for response to an alleged constitutional and fundamental human right abuse against a citizen on grounds of religious discrimination for denying Mrs Rabiatu Mohammed as opportunity to do her mandatory national service with the Trust because she refused to comply to remove her hijab (obligatory hair cover for Muslim ladies).

    Read: Social media helping to promote hijab fashion trends

    The petition was to ensure that, Article 21(1)(c) of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana, which allows every citizen to observe and manifest their religion in the country was fully and duly respected and applied.

    SSNIT, in showing strong interest in the case responded to the petition through MSS and requested for some time to undertake investigation into the alleged case of abuse.

    After the investigation, the findings admitted knowing Mrs Rabiatu who posted to SSNIT Tarkwa Branch for her national service but do not agree with Ms. Mohammed on exactly what happened.

    However, it is heartwarming to MUYAD Social Services, the victim, lawyers and surely to the Muslim community in Ghana to learn that, SSNIT as law abiding entity that upholds human rights principles has decided to review its dress code policy to define requirements for hijab (obligatory dress rules for Muslim ladies) across the country.

    “In the wake of this occurrence, the Trust has reviewed its policy on dress codes. Management has, in principle, acknowledged that the hijab, in particular, be acceptable in the dress code. Deliberation on acceptable definition of the hijab for the dress code policy are ongoing and close to conclusion.” SSNIT stated in its response to the MSS petition.

    Read: Reports on sacked hijabbed national service personnel false SSNIT

    “We hope this clarifies the position of SSNIT”, it added.

    MUYAD Social Service and the Muslim community in general wish to thank The Board and Management, especially, Mr Michael Addo, the media, the Office of the Vice President and all stakeholders which helped for once again, Ghana being the winner in this peaceful coexistence among the various religious groupings in the country.

     

    Source: www.ghananewsagency.org