Iran Protesters Could Face Execution as People React to Violent Murder of Young Woman By ‘Morality’ Police
22-year-old Kurdish Iranian woman Mahsa Amini died last Friday while in police custody in Iran. Picked up by Iran's infamous
Ivy Griffith
22-year-old Kurdish Iranian woman Mahsa Amini died last Friday while in police custody in Iran.
Picked up by Iran's infamous "morality police," who enforce the country's strict religious morality rules which include wearing a proper hijab, Amini would be dead soon after.
Her death lit a bonfire of rage across the whole of Iran, with young people fighting back against the extremist regime they believe are killing their own people.
What to Know About the Murder of Mahsa Amini
When Mahsa Amini was picked up by police, she was placed into a car and her family was told that she would be taken to a "re-education" center for an hour to be scolded for violating the country's strict dress code.
They would never see her alive again.
Police say she had an underlying heart condition, suffered a heart attack while in their custody, slipped into a coma and died. But her father, Amjad Amini, says it's not true. His daughter did not have an underlying heart condition, and when he asked to see her body he was denied for a long time. When they finally presented Amjad with his daughter's body, it was wrapped in winding cloth from head to toe – the only skin visible on her feet, which Amjad said were covered in bruises. Advocates believe she died from multiple blows to the head.
Protesters Could Face Execution As Crackdown Escalates
When word spread of Amini's death allegedly at the hands of police, it lit a bonfire as protests popped up in all 50 major cities across Iran, and small towns.
Women, for the first time in Iranian history, are leading the political rebellion – burning their hijabs and cutting their hair publicly in protest.
The crackdown has been utterly brutal, with dozens and up to 100 feared dead, with human rights groups estimating possibly more. In order to try to avoid military clashes, protestors have been engaging in "flash protests" which pop up and then dissolve quickly, but heartbreaking images of protestors shoved like firewood into caged trucks and hauled away to undisclosed locations shows that it isn't always effective.
The government also cut off internet access to much of the country, which historically has led to significant bloodshed in the Middle Eastern country as the government can act violently against protestors without real-time information slipping out.
State-sponsored marches have been organized in response to the continued unrest, and some of them are calling for the execution of the protesters.
What Happens Next?
Unfortunately for the protesters, the end-game remains murky. The current Iranian regime holds the country in an iron grip, with a nearly unassailable military and security force, making its toppling unlikely.
And in a country where religious conservatism is the standard, protesters are unlikely to wring any concessions from those in charge. But that doesn't mean their anger will abate. Young people are leaving Iran in staggering numbers, because the country doesn't have much of a place for forward-thinkers and dreamers. This may be their last chance to carve a future for themselves in the oppressive country, and bring hope to tomorrow's dreamers.
But it all has to start with blood in the streets, as so many things do.