Women

Content Warning: contains reference to physical abuse and violence

Last month, Iranian authorities arrested and allegedly beat a woman, Ahoo Daryaei, for stripping in an apparent anti-hijab protest at the Islamic Azad University. Student Newsletter Amir Kabir was first to post the video of her arrest and asserted that Daryaei only removed her clothing after harassment by a Basij member for not wearing a headscarf. For reference, Basij is an Iranian paramilitary force that is responsible for security, law enforcement, and moral policing. Following this, Amir Kabir claimed that Daryaei’s clothes were torn by security forces, who then physically abused her and forced her into a car.

 Amnesty International immediately advocated for her release, protection and access to a lawyer— as well as for an impartial investigation into the abuse.

Thankfully, after international outrage and media coverage, Daryaei was recently reported to have been released to her family by a representative of the Iranian Judiciary. Yet, alarmingly, this spokesperson reported that she was only released after being detained in a psychiatric ward and declared mentally ill. The Islamic Republic has often been criticized for this insidious tactic of dismissing women’s rights activists as mentally ill to discredit the movement as well as their individual agency. This is leveraged particularly against those who violate the country’s 1979 mandatory hijab law.

 This month, the Islamic Republic furthered this tactic by opening a hijab removal treatment clinic to ostensibly cure the ‘mentally ill’ women who protest and refuse to veil. These healing facilities are nothing but a front for the abuse of women. Amnesty International has ample evidence for the abuse of dissidents detained in state-run psychiatric services— suffering from violence, torture, and forced medication. Worse still, the UN has warned of a newly emerging pattern of women’s rights activists being sentenced to death in the Islamic Republic.

Furthermore, just this September, the Islamic Republic approved the ‘Protection of the Family through Promoting the Culture of Hijab and Chastity’ law, which imposes harsher punishments for improper hijab and immodesty. This law extends not only into public spaces, but also online— threatening women with fines, limitations on educational and employment opportunities, and up to 10 years of imprisonment. Businesses are also under threat, as revealed in Amnesty International’s annual report, in 2023 over 1,800 businesses were forcibly closed for failing to enforce compulsory veiling.

Amnesty International also reported chemical attacks against thousands of schoolgirls in a seemingly targeted campaign as punishment unveiling themselves during the 100-day “Women, Life, Freedom” protests in 2022. This uprising was sparked by the death of Mahsa Jina Amini— which came only three days after her being arrested for noncompliance with the hijab law. The Iranian State Coroner claimed that her death was caused by pre-existing conditions, despite wide suspicion that she died due to severe abuse of her head and limbs.

Women’s rights are increasingly threatened by the Iranian State. As activists are suppressed and women’s protections against abuse deteriorate, the UN has called on the international community to act. The UN calls for states to prioritise the investigation and punishment of crimes against the women and girls who protested in the 2022 “Women, Life, Freedom” uprising. Further— the UN has urged States for the acceleration of asylum applications and the provision of humanitarian visas to victims, particularly women and children. As students and as people, we can raise awareness and pressure our governments to respond to the UN’s calls for justice in our international community.

Let’s continue to speak up for, and with, the women and girls of Iran.

Editor: Leah Russon Watkins