‘We are terrified but we will resist’
Women fight for rights in Iran after savage clampdown
When the Shah of Iran was ousted in 1979, Nasrin was among thousands of women who took to the street chanting “Freedom!”.
It was a time of jubilation for the 18-year-old, who believed that her ancient country was finally going to liberalise. The last Shah – the equivalent of a king in imperial Iran – was a notorious despot called Mohammad Reza Pahlavi whose forces locked up anyone who objected to his rule.
Now Nasrin is 61, and back protesting – this time against the ultraconservative Islamic theocracy that replaced the Shah, and which is now threatening her life.
“My country is going backwards, not forwards – people are being slaughtered by the security forces for daring to speak out,” said Nasrin, who asked to be identified solely by
her first name. Like millions, the university academic and accomplished musician is particularly incensed by the alleged murder last month of Mahsa Amini, 22.
Amini, an Iranian Kurd, was arrested by so-called morality police – for daring to show a few strands of hair outside her headscarf, or hijab.
Speaking to me from Tehran, where the crime happened, Nasrin said: “It’s a particularly terrifying time for all of us, but that won’t stop us resisting.
“The repression by hardline Islamic police has been getting worse for many years, and the Mahsa scandal has simply brought all the injustices into focus. Plenty of abuses like these have been going on in secret ever since the 1979 Revolution, but because of improved communications, and especially the development of social media, the truth is getting out.”
It was on September 13 that Amini was taken away by armed officers in Tehran for not wearing her hijab “correctly”. Officers are said to have tortured her in their van on the way to the police station, where she was further attacked, causing fatal injuries. Hours later she was admitted to hospital in a condition described by medical reports as “immobile and brain-dead”. Within three days Amini was dead, and autopsy results pointed to severe head trauma consistent with a violent beating.
Many are directly blaming the religious hierarchy, and particularly Ali Khamenei, the so-called Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution. The Ayatollah rules by decrees and makes the final decisions on pretty much everything that happens in the country.
“Can you imagine how that makes all of us feel,” said Samira, who is 33 and a student of modern languages in the Iranian capital.
“The Supreme Leader and his entourage have clearly approved the subjugation, but they can’t have imagined the outcry it would cause.
“There is now a massive movement calling for change, and it may be just a matter of time before we have another full-blown revolution”. Amini’s funeral in her hometown of
Saqqez, in the Kurdistan Province, has had a massive impact.
The rallying cry this time was “Woman! Life! Freedom!” as crowds of hundreds gathered in spite of state security warnings.
They carried pictures of Amini and removed and burned their head coverings in bonfires – a protest that has been repeated in cities across Iran. Just as significantly, the hashtag #MahsaAmini has become an Iranian version of America’s #MeToo