Will the Iran protests succeed in bringing change?

Throughout the first week of December of 2022, news shot through the web, touting the ultimate victory of the movement as Mohammad Javad Montazeri, allegedly pointed towards the abolishment of the Iranian morality police.

Raiyan Zoaher ShoummoRaiyan Zoaher Shoummo
Published : 9 Dec 2022, 07:58 PM
Updated : 9 Dec 2022, 07:58 PM

Iranian women and youth continue to clamour for their human rights several months after Mahsa Amini’s death at the hands of Iran’s morality police.

Throughout the first week of December of 2022, news shot through the web, touting the ultimate victory of the movement as the attorney general of the Iranian regime, Mohammad Javad Montazeri, allegedly pointed towards the abolishment of the Iranian morality police. If true, it would be a minor battle won amidst an intense tug of war for the rights these youths desire above anything else, but that was not the case, as we would come to learn not long afterwards.

To preface, Mahsa Amini was taken into custody in a van by the Iranian Guidance Patrol, commonly referred to as the ‘morality police.’

Tasked with enforcing Iran’s abject compliance with Islamic Sharia law, among which is the decree made by the Prophet Muhammad (SA) for women within the faith to wear headscarves or hijabs, Amini was brutally beaten for allegedly not wearing said hijab in a way deemed satisfactory by the morality police. This led to her death 3 days after falling into a coma.

The Iranian Legal Medicine Organization (ILMO) later stated that her death was instead caused by an “underlying disease” as she “developed a disorder in her heart rhythm and suffered from a decrease in blood pressure causing hypoxia.”

Although the ILMO describes itself as an independent entity, it is also a part of Iran's judiciary. Their claim was supported by the Iranian police, who have also stated following the coroner’s official report that she had died due to a heart attack caused by underlying health issues. This statement has been disputed by witnesses and family.

Montazeri’s quote reads, “The morality police has nothing to do with the judiciary system. The same source that created it in the past, from the same place it has been shut down, of course, the judiciary system will continue its surveillance of social behaviours across society.”

BBC Persian did not take long to label these statements as “intransparent and vague.” Furthermore, Montazeri himself is not in a position of power to abolish the morality police of Iran. As of now, he has made no effort to state when or how the morality police were shut down or by whom. He has stated that surveillance would continue (if not under the morality police, then under who?). Directly contradicting his statements, Iranian state media has reported that the morality police have not been ousted.

Since Amini’s death, there have been widespread protests fuelled by the anguish of Iranian youth over their right to live the way they want to and not under the conditions a council of septuagenarians deems are proper. But the question still remains - Will these women fighting for their rights on the streets actually manage to bring substantial change to the country so set in its rigid ideals?

We must first inspect Iran's government to get closer to the answer.

More than any other form of governance, Iran could be stated to be a theocracy or religious dictatorship led by its supreme ruler, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who took over from Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini following the leader’s death in 1989. He was elected for life by a smaller group of 88 Islamic officials known as Mujtahids under the name ‘Assembly of Experts.'

While the Ayatollah remains in his position as the most powerful individual and the final say in all religious, political, and military matters in Iran, the country still has its own elected president and parliament. But beyond any elected officials lies a group of 12 clerics called the Guardian Council. They can veto any policy or person’s entry into the parliament or even an individual’s presidential candidacy. Half of the members of the guardian council are selected by the supreme leader, and the other half are chosen by the chief justice, who is also hand-picked by the top leader.

This allows for almost all political power within Iran to be consolidated by a group of seminary Islamic clerics. Any politician that may want to change the system or go slightly against the view held by the hardline Islamic conservatives in power is swiftly rejected by the council. Over half of the candidates for the 2021 presidential election were not allowed to run, essentially reformist and moderate politicians.

Further roadblocks to the fight for women’s rights exist in the form of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard, tasked with protecting the Islamic theocracy following the Islamic revolution of 1979. They are considered to be one of the most powerful military establishments within the country and were instrumental in the government crackdown that put an end to protests in 1999, 2005, 2009, and even in 2019, when over 1,500 protesters were shot dead while protesting a rise in petrol prices by 300 percent.

Despite this steep hill laid out for these women, the fight for their rights still rages as women of all ages, including schoolgirls, take to the streets burning their hijabs as a clear sign of dissent against the stringent policies regarding Islamic morality. Some go even further, shouting - “death to the dictator” or shaving their heads entirely as a sign of solidarity.

It is critical to understand that even though the Iranian establishment seeks to blame the protests on the typical boogeymen of the west, such as the US and even Israel, the slogan the women chose to rally behind - “woman - life - freedom” - makes their goals clear.

While the protests intensified, so did the heavy hand of the Iranian leadership.

As quickly as the protests spread across the country, the reporter who first broke the news of Mahsa Amini’s death was put behind bars. Internet access to the public was restricted on Sept 19, just two days after the protests became widespread.

Since then, the death toll has risen to over 400, including about 60  minors who took to the streets to protest the unjust killing of Amini. Iran, ranking 178th of 180 countries analysed according to RSF’s Press Freedom Index, has also gone on to detain at least 20 female journalists across Iran since the beginning of the protest.

They are fighting to pull change into what has essentially become an apartheid state for women for the past 43 years - where women are denied social freedoms, forced to sit at the back of public busses away from view, and are blocked from any high political position or even becoming judges in the judiciary. The overarching dissatisfaction of Iranian youth – especially women, with what they view to be a morally corrupt government has resulted in nationwide outcry “everywhere, at every ethnicity, at every class….”

Many times in the past, attempts have been made to bring change to Iran’s stagnant political landscape by electing officials and trying to spark change through legislation. Still, any idea of that ilk was taken out of consideration because the men at the top of the Iranian government have no checks and balances.

The failure of 2009’s green movement regarding the alleged tampering of the election in 2009 was symbolised by the death of 26-year-old protester Neda Agha-Soltan, who was shot dead by an Iranian sniper. In 2022 the protesters have taken such ideas out of consideration and very openly seek a regime change, kindling comparison to even the original Islamic revolution of 1979; the critical difference being the want for the regime's dissolution put in place by the initial process.

Another relevant clarification is that the protests are not inherently anti-Islamic. It is simply a call for freedom, according to the women protesting. Although the original decree made by the Prophet had made the hijab mandatory for all Muslim women, the youth of Iran, who have become increasingly secular since the internet became widely available, demand the right to choose under the idea that Iran is comprised of many groups other than just Muslims.

It is also essential to see that even if the dissolution of the morality police was true, it would not be more than a tokenistic offering to the protesters who seek far more than the swift removal of a now disadvantageous pawn on the board of the Iranian regime. What these women want now is an escape from the repressive and discriminatory system they have challenged since its inception. Even if the morality police in and of itself has not been sighted since the beginning of the protests, their role of repression has been handed over to the Revolutionary Guard and, by extension, the Basij paramilitary group to quash the riots. In the words of human rights lawyer Shadi Sadr, “the protest will not end until the regime is gone.”

Many Muslims worldwide, even in Bangladesh, believe the Iranian government’s violent approach to crushing protesters' voices today and its strict adherence to Sharia law is a perversion of Islamic scripture and teachings. 

Md Nadim, a high school teacher in Dhaka, says - “In this day and age, there are no truly Islamic countries in this world. Any country identifying as such seeks to abuse its name for the sake of its greed and thirst for power. The only way forward is the sensible and moderate application of Islamic laws.”  

Elena, a trans student, said - “Mind you, this has been going on for much longer than people would think. Not too long ago, [I believe] a 16-year-old girl was taken into custody for not wearing her hijab and has been missing ever since. She is presumed dead. What we see in Iran is nothing more than clear bigotry directed towards women.” 

When asked if she believes this movement will succeed in causing a substantial change in Iran, she responded - “I really hope so because women’s rights are human rights. They have the right not to wear a headscarf because not every woman in Iran is necessarily a Muslim. No one who does not pertain to a certain religion should be forced to comply with the demands of a religion they may not be a part of.” 

More recently, Elnaz Rekabi, a woman partaking in a rock climbing competition in South Korea, was detained at an Iranian embassy before being taken back to Iran for competing without wearing a headscarf. She was taken to an undisclosed location in a van after her arrival, and her brother was later summoned to an intelligence agency. She has since become the newest symbol for the movement. Although causing less viral press, prominent Iranian actresses Hengameh Ghaziani and Katayoun Riahi, accused of collusion and acts against Iranian authorities, were arrested. They are just a few examples of the many public figures charged for siding with the protests, dropping more fuel into the fire under the boiling pot.

As the football World Cup takes hold of the immediate attention of the world, the rebellion has seemingly gone international as many fans gathered with the slogan of the movement in full display in Qatari stadiums. The Iranian national football team themselves were silent during their game against England, showing solidarity with the protesters. 

Women are continually taking to the streets, even today, 3 months after the protests erupted, bypassing the restrictions put on the internet to share videos and news of the protests across social platforms like wildfire. Much of the protests surround decades of suppression and a whole host of police brutality under Iran's regime.

Gilda Sahebi, writer for DW, has said - “Every single woman in Iran has grown up experiencing the morality police. You have this brutal, humiliating experience. You experience violence due to the morality police.”

What causes many to believe this movement may be different from the ones it follows is that it comprises women from all walks of life and classes. Previous significant protests, such as those held in 2009 and 2019, were mainly consolidated to the middle or lower classes. Experts see strong similarities and disparities compared to the successful 1979 revolution.

As the west cracks down on Iran with stronger sanctions, the protests intensify with similar zeal. However, the youth willing to put down their lives in the name of freedom have no unifying group or opposition party leading the charge. As a result, the protests are disorganized and disjointed, with protests in different regions and cities cropping up due to similar sentiments but never under the same leaders.

The leading cause for this is the effort taken by the Iranian government to wipe out any opposition to the hardline Islamic narrative, which is swiftly shut down before the seeds can grow into a full-fledged movement. This aggressive push against any sort of change is the most potent tool of the government against such movements and the steepest hill the women hungry for freedom want to climb to the top of.

The death toll never stops rising amidst increasing tension between law enforcement and protesters, even to the time of writing. On Nov 3, 2022, over 1,000 protesters were charged and arrested by Iranian authorities, while human rights groups pin the total detention count to be around 16,800. The women taking part in the movement have called for an independent investigation into the regime by the UN and sought help from human rights organizations such as Amnesty International. However, the movement accelerates at a breakneck pace, and the tallest wall to be toppled is still approaching fast.

It may look bleak to some, but a few experts believe that the momentum and size of the movement can thoroughly shake the clerics at the top of the ladder. This is a sign that the leadership no longer has the common people by their side – that they are losing political capital at an unprecedented rate. The hope for the movement is that this effect can force the hand of Iranian leadership towards more lax regulations and freedom for the most vulnerable stakeholders in Iran's social ladder.

Reporter's Age: 16 District: Dhaka