“Nobody warned you that the women whose feet you cut from running would give birth to daughters with wings.”
― Ijeoma Umebinyuo
Close your eyes and imagine you are a girl living in Iran… You need to cover all your body and wear headscarf to go out, how does it feel? Regardless of your religion and belief, you have to respect a compulsory dress code!
Well, this is just the exterior of what women have been facing in Iran, while women limitations are far beyond this!
These days people all around the world have heard the name of an Iranian girl #Mahsa_Amini at least once, a 22 years old girl who was murdered on September 16th, 2022 in Tehran. She was brutally beaten by the morality police for not wearing a proper hijab (!) and went to coma due to a hit to the head.
The death of Mahsa Amini sparked the biggest protest in Iran against the Islamic Republic regime since 2009. The murder of Mahsa evokes those dark memories of all Iranian girls and women who have suffered or died just because they were women, some of which are highlighted below.
The blue girl: Sahar Khodayari*, a 29-year old Iranian girl who died after setting herself on fire because of being charged for trying to attend a men’s soccer match on September 9th, 2019. Women in Iran have been banned from going to stadiums to watch men sporting events since 1981. Sahar was arrested when she tried to enter the stadium and after spending 3 days in jail, she was released on bail and waited for six months for the court decision. When she figured out that she might be convicted to six months to two years of imprisonment, she killed herself by self-immolation in front of the courthouse.
Honor killing**: Romina Ashrafi was a 14-year-old girl who was murdered by her father with a farming sickle while she was sleeping on May 21th, 2020. Romina eloped with his boyfriend after her father’s objection to their marriage. The couple was caught by the local police and Romina was sent to his father’s house despite declaring that her life would be in danger there. Later, her father was convicted only to 9-years imprisoning while for other forms of murdering one might be sentenced to much severe retributions. Many other cases of honor killings resulting from perceiving women as belongings of men regardless of them being human have not been reported or even known.
Reyhaneh Jabbari: a 26-year-old woman who was executed on October 25th 2014 because of being convicted for killing a man, Morteza Abdolali Sarbandi, who tried to sexually abuse her. The court condemned her to death while there was a lack of enough proof and evidence of the death motives. She experienced an unfair trial, being held in solitary confinement and having no access to lawyer and family. UN and international groups insisted that Reyhaneh’s confession were obtained after pressure and threat, they added that Sarbandi's connections with the Ministry of Intelligence may have been a reason for authorities to avoid a just investigation into the murder.
Violation of Women’s independence: Iranian married women need their husband’s legal permission to obtain a passport or to leave the country. In the case of unmarried women, the father can prevent them from exiting the country if they intend to. Zahra Nemati, Niloofar Ardalan, Samira Zargari, Ziba Kalhor, Sara PourAzima are Iranian national team athletes who were banned by their husbands or fathers from traveling abroad for the competitions. This is not the only right that is usually taken from women when getting married but there are also other rights, such as the right to educate and work, the right to divorce and the child custody, that is automatically transferred to the husband under an official marriage.
Those mentioned were few examples of the insecurity and discrimination Iranian women have suffered specially for the past four decades. Wishing for human rights, women’s rights and freedom, the fear and rage that had been seeded into the women in the past years turned into the big trees of freedom. Mothers who have been oppressed and experienced a fearful life, lullaby their wishes, life, freedom into their children's ears. The wish for freedom is ingrained into the new generation, the mothers whose feet were cut taught their children how to be brave, strong and aware enough to fly over all limits.
Following the loss of Mahsa, people started to protest in the streets and ask for justice for her death, but none of the governors has been responding. The only response they got was baton and bullets. Brave women and girls have been raised, shouting their rights, removing and waving their scarf, standing in front of the regime’s forces, with no hesitation in their eyes! Despite the very brutal suppression and knowing that they might be arrested or even be killed. Boys and men have also stand shoulder by shoulder alongside women, chanting the slogan “Women, Life, Freedom”, which has been heard all over the world today making its way beyond simple feminism concepts. A prosperous society is not detached from its people’s, especially women’s, prosperity. As Abdul Ghafar Khan, also known as Bacha Khan, said: “If you wish to know how civilized a culture is, look how they treat their women”.
List of the Death in this protest reported so far (in chronological order)
Mahsa Amini (22)
Hajar Abbasi (70 years old)
Nika Shakarami (16 years old)
Minoo Majidi (62)
Ghazaleh Chelavi (32)
Hananaeh Kia (23)
Hadis Najafi (22)
Mahsa Mogouyi (18)
Sarina Esmaeilzadeh (16)
Asra Panahi (16)
Mona Naghib (8)
Sarina Saedi (16)
Maedeh Javanfar (28)
Freshteh Ahmadi (32)
Hadie Naimaei (25)
Behnaz Afshari (22)
Negin Abdolmaleki (21)
Roshana Ahmadi (16)
Parisa Bahmani
Parmis Hamnava (14)
*A soccer fan nicknamed "The Blue Girl" after the color of her favorite team, Esteghlal, since the team wears blue kits.
**Honor killing is the killing of a member of a family who is perceived to have brought dishonor upon relatives.
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