"Woman, life, freedom"

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A year ago, a student Mahs Amini died in Tehran's hospital. A few days before that she was beaten by police officers. After the death of the girl, tens of thousands of people entered the streets of Iran, and young people became the driving force of protests. World stars acted in their support - from Coldplay to Marion Cotillard. We figure out why the protests did not lead to the fall of the regime and how the country has changed over the past year.

• Author

  

  Author

  August

• Editor

  Editor

  John Locke

• Illustrator

  Illustrator

  Vitya Ershov

• Publication

  September 16, 2023

“For women, life, freedom. For freedom, ”the Iranian performer Shervin Hadjipur sings . September 28, 2022 he released the Baraye track The track is translated into Russian with Farsi as “for the sake” or “for” on his Instagram page 12 days after the murder of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in Tehran. The lyrics of the song are inspired by the tweets of young Iran_ok, who listed the reasons why they continue to protest against the Iranian regime. Previously, Khadzhipur said Now the post is deleted : "The text of this song was written by you to relieve your pain."

Baraye is called the anthem of protests in Iran, in February of this year she received Grammy as the best song for social changes. But Shervin Hadzhipur could not receive the award personally: he was detained in October last year in Iran, accusing him of "the spread of anti -state propaganda." After the arrest of Baraye, the performer was removed from Instagram, but in the very first days she was listened to more than 40 million people. The security forces released Hadjipur on a subscription about the departure after making a bail.

During the year of protests, this song sounded in classes of secondary schools and university campuses, in stadiums in front of thousands of spectators and during a fashion show in Paris. And the cover on Baraye perform in French, Spanish, German and other languages.

“You may not know this song, but we will give it all your strength, because I will send it with love to Iran from here,” said Chris Martin, the vocalist of Coldplay, at a concert in Buenos Aires in October 2022. At this time, in Iran, officials began to come to educational institutions to conduct “educational” conversations with young people and dissuade them from participating in protest. But civil servants did not want to listen. For example, in Gohardasht, schoolgirls kicked out an Iranian official with the words: “Shame on you!”

Hijab as a symbol of protest

September 13, 2022 Kurdyanka Makhsa Her Kurdish name - Gina Amini was detained by the Iran’s morals at the Hakkani metro station in Tehran. The security forces considered that the girl wears a hijab in an inappropriate way: strands of hair were knocked out of him. Mahsu Amini was placed in the insulator of the morals, where she was beaten . Soon after the arrest, Mahs fell into a coming concussion of the third degree - the girl was transferred to the intensive care unit of the Kasra Hospital, where she died a few days later. The security forces claimed that Mahsa Amini died of a heart attack, but the obvious_Its and people detained with the girl said that she was insulted and brutally beaten by police police officers.

The message about her death spread on social networks. In the secret, the hometown of the deceased girl, the protests began, which then spread throughout the country: the demonstration_ki chanted: “Woman, life, freedom”, “Death to the dictator!” We are talking about the Supreme Leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei , some of them called for a change of power in Iran. The Kurdish name of Mahsa is Gina, meaning "life". During the girl’s funeral, someone in the crowd shouted at Kurdish: “Jin, Jiana, Azadi” (“Woman, Life, Freedom”)-words that have become a slogan of protest.

At the funeral of Mahsa Amini, women shot hijabs in protest. Later, girls throughout the country began to join this action: they burned hijabs and cut their hair.

As a sign of solidarity with Iran’s women, cultural figures of France launched online flash mob #HAIRORFORFREFREDOM: they began to cut their hair.

“If we do not rally, we will be killed one by one”: protests in schools and seven death sentences

“Sunday has become a day of blood at the university ... a sign of shame, demonstrating the confrontation between the regime with students,” writes the student organization of the University of Sharif in Tehran.

During the first two months, young people conducted demonstrations against the government at about 143 universities at 31 provinces of Iran. By the beginning of January 2023, at least 685 students were detained . The surge of demonstrations came on October 26 - 40 days after the death of Mahsa Amini. According to Islamic traditions, final farewell to a dead person occurs on the 40 day.

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Later, the student_k was also joined by schools. In Shiraz, in the south of Iran, the students went to one of the main streets of the city, blocked the movement, and in the ceremns of the girls performed with the slogan: “If we do not rally, we will be killed one at a time!”

School students expressed their protest through the performance of Baraye: some sang right in the lessons, others - in campus at breaks. In solidarity with the schools of Iran, this song began to be performed by guys from other countries.

According to Human Rights Activists in Iran, at least 527 people were killed during the protests, of which 70 were minors. Almost 20,000 people arrested, of which 713 are a student. More than a hundred Iran_ok were arrested on charges that can lead to a death sentence.

Sarina Ismailzade is one of those whom Iran’s security officials were killed during protests. She was 16 years old when she went outside after the murder of Mahsa Amini. Sarina led her blog on YouTube, in which she told girls about their rights, recorded covers for popular songs. On July 12 this year, Sarina could turn 17 years old. The same age of Sarina, Nick Shakars, was also killed during protest. Iran’s authorities denied the murder of adolescents, but Nicky's mother managed to challenge the “official” version of the death of her daughter and prove that something that died at the hands of the security forces.

What has changed in Iran over the year since the start of protests?

Despite mass, protests did not lead to a change in the political regime. The ruling elite of Iran remained in power and issued at least 26 deaths. At least seven of them have already been executed. Among those who were sentenced to death, there is a musician, karate champion, actor, artist, radiologist.

Over the year, the tools for surveillance of citizens_ki of Iran intensified. Since the death of Mahsa Amini, the police police have practically disappeared from the streets. The absence of white-green circuits of morals was initially perceived by Iran_ki as a concession by the authorities and a sign of democratic changes in the country. After the temporary abolition of the police, the minister of Foreign Affairs of Iransaid : "In Iran, everything is being progressed well in the framework of democracy and freedom." But in July 2023, the vansreappeared on the streets.

Moreover, to identify women who are dressed “inappropriately”, cameras installed on the streets of Iran. Now Iran’s parliament is considering the opportunity to tighten the punishment for the “inappropriate” wearing hijab up to imprisonment for up to three years. At the same time, the country's authorities are afraid of repetitions of protests to the anniversary of the death of Mahsa Amini, so they arrest the femoral and relatives of the dead during protests. Those who previously participated in protest receive warnings from the authorities.

“We have never seen such mass arrests and detention of family members of the victims. Activists are either in prison or are subjected to interrogations or threats. Perhaps these methods temporarily prevent further protests, ” says human rights activist Shiva Nazar Akhari in an interview with DW.

In March 2023, some participants were pardoned , but provided that they would no longer join the demonstrations.

According to the independent group for the protection of women's rights "Bidarzani" Translated from Persian means “feminism” , only in August 2023 11 activists and one man were arrested in Gilan province. They were accused of undermining “public security” during protests. And the Union of Journalists Tehran announced a hundred detentions of his collegiums this year.

Today, on the anniversary of the death of Mahsa Amini, the “security forces”, in anticipation of protests, pulled dictionaries into the “restless areas” of large cities. In the main squares are the cars of the "security", and the hlices of the Corps of the Guardians of the Islamic Revolution are circling over the city. The father of Mahs was temporarily detained and warned of inadmissibility to hold the daughter’s memory, and in Tehran they blocked the roads to the graves of those killed during protests.