Naaz Mortazavi and Tina Hashemi / Staff reporter
The people of Iran are fighting against The Islamic Republic for basic human rights following the death of Mahsa Zhina Amini, a 22-year-old girl who was beaten to death by the morality police. This was all because she was not wearing her mandatory hijab properly according to Islamic Republic law.
Amini was arrested by the morality police on September 13th in Tehran the capital city of Iran while she was getting out of a subway station with her little brother. Her family didn’t hear from her until September 16th when she died at a hospital with bruises all over her face and body. According to a Global News source “Police in Iran claims Amini died of a heart attack and was not mistreated, but her family has cast doubt on that account. Independent experts affiliated with the United Nations said on Thursday that reports suggested she was severely beaten by the morality police, without offering evidence.”
Ever since the news of Amini’s death entered the media with the #mahsaamini, which later on became the most used hashtag in Twitter’s history, both men and women have been protesting around the whole country and have stood up against the regime. This protest has become nationwide, and Iranians from all over the world has been protesting in support of Iranians inside the country who are risking their lives every day and their voices are not being heard.
“The issue is not only the hijab” this was said by one Iranian who did not want their name as they fear reprisals. “The issue is 43 years of violence and injustice. 43 years of killing, torture, rape, poverty, deprivation, and misery in the name of religion.”
“Right now in Iran, the Islamic Revolutionary guards are killing young people who came on the street and said, ‘Enough is enough’. We don’t want this regime. Women are burning their hijabs because the hijab has been compulsory,” said by an Iranian in Canada. Iranians want the regime to change. Iranians want to get their country back from the hands of the Islamic Republic in order to have freedom back in their country. People are concerned because the government is killing and executing young and bright minds of the country who are brave enough to stand up for what they want and believe in.
More than 15,000 of the protesters which are mostly teenagers and young adults, have been arrested and they are at high risk of execution according to BBC News.
This situation has caused mental and physical trauma for people in Iran. “They [morality police] throw sonic bombs at us [protesters]. They are shooting us with rubber bullets. It’s a very horrific scene. I have gained severe anxiety and trauma which has caused me hair loss.” Said one of the protesters in Iran.
According to social media posts the way non-Iranians can help the people of Iran is by being their voice and try to get the message out in the world.
Now that two months have passed, Iranians are still protesting not only in Iran but in other countries and big cities like Vancouver and they haven’t yet given up. Right now they are protesting both by fighting in the streets and by going on nationwide strikes. They are sending silent messages by closing down their businesses and by not going to work or schools for “remembering atrocities of The Islamic Republic” according to @ps752justice, an anonymous Instagram page that organizes and gives information about what’s going on in Iran. Now people are together more than ever, older generations are joining the movement as we are going into the third month of the protests. The country is becoming united against the Islamic regime and the government is seriously alarmed by this movement.
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