On Sept. 16, 2022, Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian woman, died in Tehran, Iran, while in police custody. Amini was arrested by the Guidance Patrol, the morality squad of the Law Enforcement Command of the Islamic Republic of Iran that oversees public implementation of hijab regulations, .听
Soon after the news of her death was broadcast and a photograph emerged on social media of her lying in a Tehran hospital in a coma, people throughout the country became enraged.听Amini鈥檚 death starkly illustrated the systematic violence of police and highlighted particularly the brutality of the regime towards women and minorities. She was Kurdish, 听
All Iranian women who are routinely humiliated because of their gender can empathize with her. But Kurds and Kurdish women in particular understood the political message of her death at the hands of police and the state鈥檚 subsequent violent response to the protests.听The huge wave of protests in Iran following Amini鈥檚 death represents a historic moment in Iran. People have taken to the streets shouting slogans against the compulsory hijab and denouncing Iran鈥檚 Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khamenei.听
in 31 provinces, including Kurdistan and Tehran as well as cities such as Rasht, Isfahan and Qom, . Dozens of people 听
The Girls of Revolution Street听
Although the current uprising may seem unprecedented, it is in fact part of a deep-rooted and longstanding resistance movement by women in Iran.听In what is widely seen as a punishment to the hundreds of women who participated in the , the hijab became compulsory two years later in 1981.听Consequently, publicly removing hijabs .听
Decades later, in 2017, Vida Movahed climbed onto a platform on Enghelab (Revolution) Street in the centre of Tehran, as a sign of opposition to compulsory hijab.听She was followed by other women and the movement quickly became known or Dokhtaran-e Khiaban-e Enghelab.听
The Girls of Revolution Street represented a fundamental challenge by younger women to Iran鈥檚 compulsory veiling laws. Their actions resulted in an in defiance of the state.听Unsurprisingly, when religious hardliner , the message was clear: Women would be further oppressed.听
Zan, Zendegi, Azadi: Woman, life, freedom听
This recent uprising is a link in a chain of protests that together have the potential to bring about fundamental change in Iran.听It began with the pro-democracy followed by . The Green Movement was largely peaceful, but the uprisings grew increasingly more confrontational with each wave of repression.听
Women have been in the lead in all these protests, posing a real challenge to the regime. They鈥檙e the leaders of transformative change, the vanguard of a potential revolution, .听The current protests are focused on two main demands: dignity and freedom. Both have been absent from political life in Iran, and both have a prominent presence in almost all slogans during this uprising, particularly 鈥淲oman, Life, Freedom.鈥澨�
The recent uprising makes it clear that the demand for radical change in Iran today is strong and significant.听
With every wave of protest, the desire for freedom gets stronger, the voices get louder and success is within reach. Once again, Iranian women are at the forefront of demanding transformative change.听With the strong support this time of men, political and ethnic minorities and other disenfranchised groups, they may be leading their country closer to a freer and more just society.听
Professor Vrinda Narain鈥檚 research and teaching focus on constitutional law, social diversity and听feminist听legal theory.听She is the author of two books:听Reclaiming the Nation: Muslim Women and the Law in India听(University of Toronto Press, 2008) and听Gender and Community: Muslim Women's Rights in India听(University of Toronto Press, 2001).听Professor Vrinda Narain is听the 2017 recipient听of the Canadian Institute for the Administration of Justice鈥檚 Charles D. Gonthier Research Fellowship. She was Associate Dean, Academic, at the Faculty of Law from 2016 to 2019.
Fatemeh Sadeghi听is a feminist scholar and a political thought scientist. She is currently a research associate at听the UCL Institute for Global Prosperity.听听Prior to her current position, she was an O'Brien Fellow at the Centre for Human Rights and Legal Pluralism at 麻豆区.听