Iranian women protesting

[Lilith7]

Iranian women are cutting off their hair in protest at the 'morality police' after a woman arrested there died while in custody. The protest seems to be spreading outside Iran with women in other countries also protesting.


https://www.today.com/news/news/iranian-...-rcna49120


"The death of a young woman while in custody of Iran's morality police has sparked protests across the country — and around the world — as women burn their headscarves and cut their ponytails in protest of the government's restrictions on social freedoms.
Women have been at the forefront of the protests that have erupted in dozens of cities throughout Iran for seven days straight. Images and video shared on social media showed women defying the country's strict dress code that allegedly led to 22-year-old Mahsa Amini's arrest.

Amini was approached by the morality police outside of a subway station while she was vacationing in Tehran on Sept. 13 and arrested for allegedly violating the country's strictly enforced dress code, NBC News reported.


Police said Amini became ill, had a heart attack and fell into a coma, and she was declared dead on Sept. 16. Authorities denied mistreating Amini and said an investigation into her death is ongoing, but her family denied that she had prior health issues.

In one video of a protest in recent days, a woman twirls as she throws a headscarf into a bonfire before others start throwing their headscarves into the flames. Another video shows a woman cutting off her hair in front of a large crowd that is cheering her on.

In response to the protests, police have fired live rounds and water cannons at the demonstrators, and have beaten them with clubs. At least 26 people have died during the protests in the country, according to Iranian state TV."


in Saskatoon, Canada.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatoon...her%20hair.

"On Thursday, women in Saskatoon joined women in Iran and around the world who are cutting their hair in public to protest the death of Mahsa Amini, 22, who died in custody after Iran's morality police arrested her for not adequately covering her hair."
"People here are looking for justice," said Tiam Kazemi, who took part in the protest Thursday.

"They are more than that looking for a change of regime because we just had enough of many young people dying under these investigations by the police who are supposed to bring safety for our country, not death."



And here in NZ
https://www.1news.co.nz/2022/09/24/green...s-killing/
"Rallies were organised across the country amid intensifying protests in Iran following the death of 22-year-old woman Mahsa Amini.




More than 100 Kiwis attended the 11am protest in Wellington to mourn Amini's death. Several women including Green MP Golriz Ghahraman cut their hair off - a Kurdish grieving tradition - in an emotional display.





Organiser Hanna Habibi said today's Wellington protest was staged to "strongly condemn the oppressive and discriminatory treatment of women in Iran.




"We demand equal rights for all citizens regardless of gender, codified in law, and applicable to the social, political and economic spheres of our country," she said."

[king1]

they showed an article on Three News tonight about a woman at the protest in Iran being shot and killed after taking off her hijab. That country is so wrong...

[Lilith7]

I wonder sometimes, what might happen if all the women there shaved off their hair.
Since its so offensive/tempting/indecent, there could surely be no real objection; with no hair, none could be visible to 'offend' anyone, & it could even be seen as being extremely virtuous; a way to avoid upsetting anyone.

They can dress it up all they like, & claim that its against their interpretation of their religion but what it really is at its base is plain old ugly misogyny.

There've now been protests in London & Paris about this; in France tear gas was used on protesters.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/9/26...-and-paris

[Oldfellah]

I would like to see our prime minister cut off her hair in protest.

[Lilith7]

I would like to see our prime minister cut off her hair in protest.

Golriz Gahraman did exactly that.

[C_T_Russell]

I couldnt be more proud of those brave woman to stand up against such outated, barbaric and misogynistic beliefs that have absolutely no place in modern society.
Sad to hear that more are being killed as a result, this is devastating.

[Lilith7]

Women across Iran are continuing the protest, 41 people are said to have been killed as a result. It may be that this has now gone beyond protests over headscarves, & Iranians want the removal of the govt.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/s...10th-night


"Iranians have taken to the streets for a 10th consecutive night to protest against the death of Mahsa Amini in defiance of a warning from the judiciary.

Officially at least 41 people have died since the unrest began, mostly protesters but including members of the security forces, but sources say the real figure is higher.

Norway-based group Iran Human Rights (IHR) said on Sunday evening that the death toll was at least 57, but noted that ongoing internet blackouts were making it increasingly difficult to confirm fatalities in a context where the women-led protests have spread to scores of cities.

Images circulated by IHR showed protesters on the streets of Tehran shouting “death to the dictator”, purportedly after nightfall on Sunday."

[C_T_Russell]

Women across Iran are continuing the protest, 41 people are said to have been killed as a result. It may be that this has now gone beyond protests over headscarves, & Iranians want the removal of the govt.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/s...10th-night


"Iranians have taken to the streets for a 10th consecutive night to protest against the death of Mahsa Amini in defiance of a warning from the judiciary.

Officially at least 41 people have died since the unrest began, mostly protesters but including members of the security forces, but sources say the real figure is higher.

Norway-based group Iran Human Rights (IHR) said on Sunday evening that the death toll was at least 57, but noted that ongoing internet blackouts were making it increasingly difficult to confirm fatalities in a context where the women-led protests have spread to scores of cities.

Images circulated by IHR showed protesters on the streets of Tehran shouting “death to the dictator”, purportedly after nightfall on Sunday."

This is awesome news(except for the woman being killed) Iran is a close ally with Russia, so with their govt overthrown, it means Russia is alone in the Ukraine war. North Korea is an absolute joke so dont even consider their support of weapons to be any real threat.

[Lilith7]

Protests are continuing there. It seems unlikely their hardline govt will give in on this.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-63047363
"At least 76 protesters have been killed by Iranian security forces during 11 days of unrest sparked by the death of a woman in custody, activists say.

Iran Human Rights (IHR), a Norway-based organisation, accused authorities of using disproportionate force and live ammunition to suppress the dissent.
Hundreds of people have also been arrested, 20 of them journalists.

"The risk of torture and ill-treatment of protesters is serious and the use of live ammunition against protesters is an international crime," said IHR's director Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam. "The world must defend the Iranian people's demands for their fundamental rights."

The UN human rights office also said it was very concerned by the authorities' violent response and urged them to respect the right to protest peacefully.
The anti-government demonstrations have spread to more than 80 cities and towns across Iran since the funeral of Mahsa Amini on 17 September."


https://edition.cnn.com/2022/09/28/middl...index.html

"For many Iranian women, cutting off hair – a sign of beauty that is decreed to be hidden in the Islamic Republic – is a poignant form of protest.
“We want to show them that we don’t care about their standards, their definition of beauty or what they think that we should look like,” said 36-year-old Faezeh Afshan, an Iranian chemical engineer living in Bologna, Italy, who was filmed shaving off her hair. “It is to show that we are angry.”

Afshan attributes the practice of cutting off hair to historical cultural practices. “In our literature, cutting the hair is a symbol of mourning, and sometimes a symbol of protesting,” she told CNN. “If we can cut our hair to show that we are angry… we will do it.”

“Women cutting their hair is an ancient Persian tradition… when the fury is stronger than the power of the oppressor,” tweeted Wales-based writer and translator Shara Atashi. “The moment we have been waiting for has come. Politics fueled by poetry.”

[C_T_Russell]

This will get dragged out for weeks at this rate.
We might see a similar situation to Egypt or Lybia the way things are going.

[Lilith7]

This will get dragged out for weeks at this rate.
We might see a similar situation to Egypt or Lybia the way things are going.

Well - any uprising by women in any of those places wouldn't be before time.

[C_T_Russell]

This will get dragged out for weeks at this rate.
We might see a similar situation to Egypt or Lybia the way things are going.

Well - any uprising by women in any of those places wouldn't be before time.

Well this is the first time Ive seen such an uprising driven by woman on this scale, this says alot, will be interesting to see how this develops.

[Lilith7]

If this has it right, protests are continuing despite their brutal police. And that Mahsa Amini died due to a head injury inflicted by police.


https://www.iranintl.com/en/202209309124

"Despite government claims that calm was returning to the streets, the situation in Iran turned worse Friday with police firing on protesters, killing several.

As Friday in Iran is the weekend day off, people in several cities came out to protest midday instead of the usual evening hours. A demonstration in largely Sunni city of Zahedan at noon turned into gunfire and many casualties.

The official government news agency IRNA Friday evening quoted "eyewitnesses" as saying that 19 people were killed and many wounded when security forces opened fire on protesters, after tensions that led the local ethnic Baluchi youth to attack three police stations. The exact number of casualties is not clear yet.


News about protests in Tehran was slow in coming, due to the government's shutdown of the internet. But around 22:15 local time reports emerged of fierce protests in the capital.

An ominous development for the government was protests in Ahvaz, the capital of the oil-rich Khuzestan province that had remained calm in the past two weeks. Young protesters came out midday and were met with tear gas. Instability in Khuzestan can easily lead to disruption in oil production, the lifeline of a cash-starved government.

Protesters were chanting “Woman, Life, Freedom”, the mainstay slogan after a 22-year-old woman died in police custody on September 16 because of fatal wounds she received in the head after being detained by the so-called “morality police” for her “improper hijab”.

[Lilith7]

This isn't going away. There have now been 145 deaths including children. It doesn't seem unreasonable to expect our PM to at the very least, comment on the situation there or ideally, condemn the actions of the Iranian govt.


https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zeala...5YZ6Km9pJQ


Watch: Iranian Women in NZ Founder Dr Forough Amin said the revolution is not receiving enough attention from western feminists and world leaders. Credits: Images - Video - Newshub Live at 8pm

"A Kiwi Iranian activist says the deadly fight for freedom in Iran hasn't received the Western attention it deserves - believing the fear of being Islamophobic is silencing Western feminists.

Iranians across the world are calling for world leaders, including New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, to speak up.


Despite these violent crackdowns, anti-government protests persist as women fight for their rights and freedom in Iran - while Iranian Kiwis fight in support of their compatriots in Iran.

Iranian Women in NZ founder Dr Forough Amin told Rebecca Wright on Newshub Live at 8pm the revolution is not receiving enough attention from Western feminists and world leaders.

"I think it's the first revolution in modern history started by women and led by women and it can be quite inspiring for women in other parts of the world. But this revolution has not received attention and support it deserves from Western feminists and women's rights activists," Dr Amin said.

She believes one of the driving factors for Western silence is the fear of causing Islamophobia. But as Dr Amin explains, the protests are not about the women who have chosen to wear a hijab but the millions of women who are living under gender-based discrimination.

"Now we are paying for the prejudices and the discriminations that Western people had against Muslim women. In order to compensate for those mistakes now they are ignoring our right for not wanting to wear hijab," Dr Amin said.

Speaking to the NZ Herald, Dr Amin suggested practical measures New Zealand could take include expelling the Iranian Ambassador from New Zealand or closing the New Zealand embassy in Iran. She also would like to see the Government designate the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organisation in New Zealand. "