Iran
Present
Iran is currently undergoing a suppression in human rights. Thousands are being interrogated, prosecuted, detained, or imprisoned for peacefully exercising human rights. More specifically, women, the LGBTQ community, and ethnic and religious minorities meet harsher discrimination and violence. Freedom of expression, association, and assembly are also being limited by the government, taking place in forms such as internet shutdowns and threats. These issues are amplified with Ebrahim Raisi’s rise to presidency in a repressive election environment, as well as COVID-19 and corruption that has intensified Iran’s economic crisis. Ultimately, all these factors have led to the numerous strikes and rallies we’ve seen today from the people of Iran demanding for authorities to address these problems.
Discrimination Against Women
In particular, women in Iran have faced a strict history of discrimination, ranging from bans on being able to watch men’s sports in stadiums, to being unable to leave the country without their husband’s permission. Legislative developments have undermined sexual and reproductive rights, as demonstrated in one example through the adoption of the bill “Youthful Population and Protection of the Family” that disallows state-funded facilities providing free birth control, requires pharmacies to sell contraception only with a prescription, bans vasectomies and tubectomies except when pregnancy would endanger a woman’s life, and suppresses access to prenatal screening tests. Additionally, prejudice against women is also apparent in issues such as marriage, divorce, employment, inheritance, and political office. Young girls are also impacted: the legal age of marriage is 13, and fathers can obtain judicial permission for their daughters to be married at an even younger age. Finally, women in Iran, including young school girls, are forced to wear the hijab, a headscarf worn by some Muslim women, in public.
Hijab Protests
The death of 22-year-old Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini sparked unprecedented large-scale protests in Iran. Amini was arrested for breaking the country’s law that requires women to cover their hair with a hijab (a headscarf), and she later died while in police custody. Amini’s death has prompted women and girls in Iran to remove their hijabs as a form of protest in not only rejecting the policy, but also for broader demands for fundamental political and economic reforms regarding freedom for women. The hijab has transformed from a religious choice into a symbol of oppression; the current protests represent the anger and frustration of women who have been stripped of their basic freedom of choice for decades.
