On Sept.16 2022, the freedom movement started when this young 22 year old lady “Mahsa Amini” unfortunately passed away when she arrived in Tehran. She died of physical violence because she had taken off her hijab. The mortality police saw it and abused her seriously. They had already beaten her up and while putting in the white van, they slammed her head against the vehicle.
We should care about how seriously the women in Iran are suffering from the dictatorship. The government does not want anyone to have any rights and personal freedom especially to the women. This stems from the Islamic Government which is a strict Islamic men who stop people from having the freedom to make the choices they want to make. Which includes not allowing women the same rights as men. The rulers of the country want the women to dress covered up with nothing showing.
Women have been struggling to get rid of this biased dress code. According to Rothna Begum, former Associate Director of the Women’s Rights Division of the Human Rights Watch, “Women who have been fighting against compulsory dress code for decades are now openly defying it as an act of resistance by simply going out to live their lives without the hijab.”
Another personal freedom they don’t have is being able to speak freely. For example, when the women were protesting about lack of freedom. The police arrested, raped and then killed them. According to Somayeh Malekian of ABC news, “Iran Human Rights reported in April that at least 537 people had been killed since the start of the protest and at least 22,000 people arrested.”
Lastly, they don’t have the freedom of being able to do what they want. For example, no one can be a journalist because of the government that is built on dictatorship. According to the Iran Human Rights Documentation Center, “Isa Saharkhiz, a journalist and a former official with Iran’s ministry of culture and Islamic Guidance, likened working as a journalist in Iran to walking on a minefield, knowing that a wrong step may harm your career or possibly land you in prison.”
Overall, women should get the same amount of freedom the men have. In life both genders need equality, same opportunities, same education, and violence against women and girls need to come to an end to have equal human rights.
If you are interested in taking action, consider this petition:
