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According to BBC, the British Broadcasting Corporation, “Ms Amini allegedly had some hair visible under her headscarf when she was arrested by morality police in Tehran on 13 September”(BBC). The Gasht-e Ershad are the ‘morality’ police of Iran. They are a special police force that ensures that the citizens, specifically women, are practicing the sharia law to perfection. If people do not abide by the sharia law or Islamic morals, it is their job as the Gasht-e Ershad to arrest and detain those people. According to Iranian law, which is tightly connected and deeply rooted in the sharia law, women are forced to wear the hijab over their head. Persian women also have to make sure that the hijab hides all of their hair. On the 16th of September, controversy and rage sparked within the country when Iranians all over the nation found out that Mahsa Amini died after falling into a coma. Nada al-Nashif, the current UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, stated the following: “There were reports that police beat Ms Amini's head with a baton and banged her head against one of their vehicles”(Gritten). Unsurprisingly, the Iranian government and the Gasht-e Ershad have denied that Mahsa Amini was mistreated at her time in the detention center. The Gasht-e Ershad, the special moral police force of Iran, stated that the victim, Mahsa Amini, passed away from a severe heart attack. This does not make any sense as Mahsa’s family and her close friends said that she was a fit and healthy young lady.
Henceforth, Iranians all over the world were enraged and furious at the actions and behavior of the Iranian government as they knew that The Gasht-e Ershad had inhumanely beaten her to death. What enraged the persian citizens was the fact that an innocent lovely human being, was punished and killed for not complying to an oppressive law. It does not take a genius to realize that every human has the right to dress and express themselves the way the want. Every human, no matter their gender, race, creed, or socio-economic status, is created equal and is inherited with the unalienable rights of liberty, life, and the pursuit of happiness. Hence, no human has the right to take away those things from an individual or group of people. Therefore, the way the Iranian government has dealt with Masha Amini is inhuman and extremely hostile, hence, the citizens of Iran are extremely furious at the government and their strict inhumane laws. According to a survey conducted by GAMMAN (The Group for Analyzing and Measuring Attitudes in IRAN), a dutch research foundation that studies social and political matters concerning Iran. “58% said they do not believe in the hijab (Islamic veil covering the hair) altogether. Around 72% opposed the compulsory hijab, while 15% insist on the legal obligation to wear the hijab in public”(Maleki). Hence, it is fair to state, Mahsa Amini’s death is the genesis of a huge political outcry and revolution in Iran.
The beauty of the protests in Iran is that everyone seems to be on the same page. Even though Iranian from various genders, socio-economic status, and backgrounds are protesting against the government’s sexist laws and actions against women, the main people running the protests are the Iranian women. The strong women of Iran are leading the protests, hence, it is fair to state that this is a feminist movement. Obviously, the Iranian government is infuriated by the protests. Hence, the Iranian government has violently attacked protesters. One of the protestors at Tehran stated the following: “When you take to the streets you should expect anything. Deep down, you know that you might never come back. You might get arrested, 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”(Robinson). Despite the physical abuse and tyranny protesters face from the Gasht-e Ershad, they continue to hit the streets and protest against the sexist regime. Hence, this is not solely about the hijab law - it is more than that - it is about basic human rights, specifically, female rights. Mahsa Amini’s death was the spark to this movement. Not just the women, but also the people of Iran want life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness - and they want it now.
By Frederick