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Iranians went out in mass protests in 2022 after the death of a young Iranian Kurdish woman while in the custody of the “moral police.”
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- Author, Caroline Holly
- Role, diplomatic correspondent, BBC
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2 hours ago
Azad, Dounia, and Bahira are Iranian women who do not know each other, but the three women — who have changed their names for personal safety purposes — have a strong resolve to resist Iran’s clerical rule and the “dress code” it has imposed on women and girls for nearly 45 years.
Therefore, the three women leave their homes in the Iranian capital, Tehran, every day without a head covering (hijab), despite the potential risks that this behavior may entail.
“It’s scary, because they might arrest you and fine you, or you might be tortured with flogging, and the punishment if you’re arrested is up to 74 lashes,” Dounia, a pseudonym for a 20-year-old music student, told me via an encrypted messaging app.
Last month, Iranian Kurdish activist Roya Heshmati – who is 33 years old – revealed that she had been tortured and flogged 74 lashes, because of publishing a picture of herself without a hijab on social media.
But Donia, Azad, and Bahira confirmed that what they have been doing recently is “irreversible.”
Dounia said that what they are doing is “a symbolic matter, because the regime shuts down women by oppressing them,” and adds: “If this is the only way I can protest and take a step for my freedom, I will follow it.”
The three women also plan to protest this week by abstaining from voting in the country’s first parliamentary elections since the authorities brutally suppressed the women-led uprising, protests sparked by the killing of 22-year-old Iranian woman Mahsa Amini in September 2022, after… She was detained at the “Moral Police” headquarters.
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Azad’s time in prison caused great trauma that still haunts her every moment
The “moral police” arrested the young Iranian woman, Mahsa, for not wearing the hijab properly, in violation of the law. Refraining from wearing the hijab in public places in Iran could lead to imprisonment and torture, but many Iranian women do it anyway.
Azad, a 34-year-old human resources manager, said, “There is no longer a strong presence of people on the streets, but in our hearts the regime has completely fallen, and people no longer accept anything he does, so it may be their way of showing disapproval of what he does.” What happens is abstention from voting.”
“Solitary confinement is the most horrific thing you can imagine.”
The Iranian authorities arrested Azad in October 2022, and she was imprisoned for a month. Then the police arrested her again in July last year because she criticized the government on social media. This time, she spent 120 days in prison, including 21 days in solitary confinement. .
Azad said, “Solitary confinement is the ugliest thing you can imagine, as the cell door was closed all the time, and its area was one meter by one and a half metres, and there was no natural light entering it from the outside, but the artificial lighting was working around the clock, and they were blindfolded.” Our eyes when we go to the toilet,” she described.
Azad was so stressed that she hit her head against the cell wall, and she is still suffering from that shock.
She explains, “Even now, sometimes I start crying for no reason, and sometimes I feel like not opening my eyes because I think I’m still there. Memories of prison stay with me all the time.”
Azad also told me about the investigations that continued with her from eight in the morning until nightfall.
She added that this method of interrogation is known as “white torture,” noting that it was “worse than thousands of blows, if they kept threatening me and humiliating me, but I faced that with ridicule.”
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Failure to wear the hijab in Iran exposes women to punishments that include flogging, imprisonment, and fines
Despite what she has suffered, Azad is still willing to face the risk of imprisonment again by leaving the house without a hijab.
She added: “After we lost Mahsa Amini, I pledged to myself that I would not wear the hijab, nor buy another hijab for myself or for anyone else. Every change has a price, and we are willing to pay it.”
Many women in Iran currently go out in public without a hijab, although some wear one around their neck to use in case they are stopped by the “moral police.”
But we learned that about one in five women in Iran does not wear the hijab at all, in an attempt to express courage, defiance and defense of principles.
Azad confirmed that she “will not give up” in a message she sent to us, and followed it by sending an “emoji” of a heart and a victory sign.
“I am not allowed to go to work without my hijab.”
But another woman we spoke to in Tehran told us she was “exhausted” by the conflict with the regime.
Bahira, a 39-year-old newspaper reporter and film critic, had her salary cut significantly because she works from home instead of going to the office, where she has to wear the hijab.
Bahira said, “I am tired and frustrated,” adding, “It is not allowed to go to work without a hijab, and I am not prepared to wear it.”
So she now has to depend on her husband’s salary.
Recently, she left the house without wearing the hijab, was arrested by the police, and the authorities confiscated her car.
She was also arrested late last year after she posted pictures of herself on her Instagram account without a hijab, and encouraged others to do the same, as a Revolutionary Court ruled that she be imprisoned for six months with a suspended sentence and a fine.
Bahira said that she “was insulted and threatened,” and added, “They told me that I had made a mistake and that I was accused of inciting people to revolution and strip naked.”
We asked Bahira why she was not sent to prison, and she said: “Because the prisons are full of people, and they prefer to scare people like me.”
Bahira explains: “I still go out without a hijab, but it is still difficult given the possibility that restaurants, cafes, and libraries will close their doors in my face for not wearing the hijab.”
She told us that this made her feel “very bitter.”
We agreed to delete the conversation that took place between us as soon as we finished it, for fear that she would be arrested for speaking.
The Iranian woman said: “After that, I will ban you. I have no other choice. No one will be able to help me if I am arrested, and I may face espionage charges that would lead to a death sentence.”
Fear and courage are two feelings that exist side by side within many Iranian women who are willing to challenge the regime, and alongside all of this there are feelings of hope and anger as well.
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Police arrested Bahira when she posted a photo of herself on Instagram without a hijab last year
“I was terrified and my father was terrified too.”
Dounia spoke with us about a trip to the theater in the center of the Iranian capital, Tehran.
Donia was wearing a hat to keep warm, but when she took the subway she took it off when a number of men and women wearing black chadors — full-body robes worn by some women in Iran — shouted at her to wear the hijab.
She said: “I did not have a hijab, I only had a hat, but there was a stubborn urge that prevented me from wearing it. It was scary, but I kept walking and ignored them. There were many of them, as they occupied the largest space in the train station.”
She recounted that she continued walking until she heard one person say to another: “Please, take this girl to the truck.” Then Dounia began to rethink her behavior, and she said: “The blood froze in my veins, and I was overcome with fear, and my father was afraid as well, so I put the hat on my head.” “.
The only time Dounia covered her head was when she went to university because she wouldn’t be allowed in without a hijab.
Despite this, she said that she – and others – remove the hijab in the classroom.
Donia added: “My friend and I would like to be able to wear beautiful clothes and do great hairstyles at university like in other countries.”
She continued: “People were in a deep sleep before Mahsa’s death – metaphorically – but now they are more aware.”
She stressed that “the protests are the reason why many women refuse to wear the hijab in the streets, but they are also tired of the pressure and all the news they hear about death sentences,” stressing that this is a “difficult and exhausting path.”
She pointed out that people are still drawing graffiti on walls in public places, in addition to the widespread boycott of state television.
She said: “I see people fighting for change every day. I am convinced that my generation, Generation Z, cannot tolerate oppression. People also look for every opportunity to dance and sing in the streets, because dancing is against the law.”
Azad also draws support from the solidarity of strangers and a new sense of unity against the regime. “Even veiled women encourage her to refuse to cover her hair,” she says. “She is convinced that the days of the Islamic Republic are numbered after 45 years in power.”
She added: “The revolution will happen, but no one knows exactly when that might happen.”
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2024-02-28 09:48:07
