On September 16, a young girl named Mahsa Amini was arrested by Iran’s morality police because she was not wearing her hijab correctly and was wearing skinny jeans. According to her family, the police proceeded to beat her until her death. The Iranian government and police denied these claims and said she died due to an underlying disease.
Her death fomented unrest in Iranians, regardless of gender or age, to protest and this has been ongoing since September. Most of these protests have been peaceful, including women joining together to burn their hijabs and some even going as far as cutting their hair. The Iranian football team refused to sing their national anthem at the World Cup on November 21 and since have received threats from the Iranian government that if they fail to “behave,” their families will face “violence and torture.”
There have been reports of some violent protests where people have set fire to security force buildings but even before those took place, the Iranian government has killed more than 326 and over 18,000 people have been arrested. It has been reported that even people who have honked in solidarity of those protesting have been shot at.
Just last week, the Tehran court sentenced the first person connected to these protests to death, saying that this person committed “enmity against God” and helped in “spreading corruption on Earth.” According to a BBC article, a human right’s group warned authorities that Iran’s government will continue to make hasty decisions on executions, and another article revealed that three more people have been sentenced to death.
In some twisted way, the good news is that the viral claim that 15,000 people had been sentenced to death is not true. Justin Trudeau, Canada’s Prime Minister, promptly tweeted after hearing the news that Canada denounced the Iranian regime—however, he swiftly deleted it after getting updated information.
Before opening up an investigation on the Iranian government, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, received multiple letters from said government claiming that they had conducted many internal investigations. Türk determined that they “have failed to meet international standards of impartiality, independence and transparency.” Despite Iran’s unwillingness to participate in this investigation conducted by the UN, the UN will proceed in conducting the investigation without Iran’s cooperation.
While reading excerpts of the Quran that pertained to the topic of women's appearance, the Quran says, towards the end of the passage, “…Allah is ever Forgiving, Merciful” (Quran 33:59). If they truly believed in the entirety of these writings they hold dear and sacred, would the government have sanctioned the brutal treatment of protestors? Would they force Team Melli to sing the national anthem by threatening harsh punishments upon their return? Would they arrest 18,000+ people for protesting women’s rights to be free? Would there be 4 less people awaiting their death? Would Mahsa and the 326 others still be walking this earth?
Faezeh Hashemi, a women’s right advocate as well as a former lawmaker, is the daughter of the former president of Iran who is also one of the founding fathers of the clerical establishment. Faezeh, based on the knowledge she gained through her father’s work, said the hijab was never supposed to be forced on anyone and that the current clerical establishment has deviated from what was intended at its origin. Given that I don’t practice Islam, I don’t feel it’s appropriate to explicitly answer the questions above. However, it is noted that these protests, unlike many others that have happened not only in their country but around the world, have united people from every aspect of life and every part of society. Perhaps the unity we are seeing is our answer.
For more information on the Quran:
https://www.al-islam.org/hijab-muslim-womens-dress-islamic-or-cultural-sayyid-muhammad-rizvi/quran-and-hijab
The Student Movement is the official student newspaper of Andrews University. Opinions expressed in the Student Movement are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors, Andrews University or the Seventh-day Adventist church.