“I posted my photo, hair in the wind, because I wanted to freeze in time this moment of freedom, this emotion that I was experiencing for the first time.” Like hundreds of young girls in Iran, 24-year-old Shirin* posted a photo of herself walking down the street without a veil on social media. The snap taken in a major city in southern Iran has gone viral. More than 25,000 “likes” in a few days. The student did not expect this success and knows that it exposes her to reprisals.
>> IN PICTURES. In Iran and around the world, a month of protest after the death of Mahsa Amini
His parents, who have “experienced the transformation of Iran”, support her and understand her desire for freedom. At home and her family, the death of Mahsa Amini, after her arrest by the morality police, has reignited anger buried for years. “They can no longer bear to live under surveillance”.
“At the entrance to my university, there is a lady who inspects girls’ outfits every day, saying that the pants are too short, that the hair is sticking out of the hijab or that we wear a lot of makeup.”
Shirin, 24-year-old Iranian studentat franceinfo
Reached via four different networks because of censorship in Tehran, which prevents Iranians from connecting to the internet, Shirin tells franceinfo about her fed up with all the prohibitions imposed on women, which prevent her from “live normally”, with the same rights as men. Shirin explains “suffer” sexist and misogynistic laws that govern the lives of women: the obligation to wear the hijab, to have the husband’s agreement in order to be able to travel, custody of children which goes to the father in the event of divorce… for all these reasons she screams her anger at the risk of her life.
“Law enforcement, sometimes in civilian clothes, attacks protesters, shooting them with live ammunition. They block entrances to universities to beat and arrest anyone who dares to chant anti-government slogans. They are ruthless!”
Shirin, 24-year-old Iranian studentat franceinfo
According to the student, “most of those who have been killed are young people”. The repression of the demonstrations has left at least 122 dead, according to a report by the NGO Iran Human Rights (IHR), based in Oslo. The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child adds that at least 23 children have been killed by Iranian security forces and hundreds more are said to have been injured, detained and tortured.
Despite the repression, Shirin and her friends are still demonstrating, especially on Wednesdays and Saturdays, without knowing if their voices can be heard abroad. The government has restricted access to the internet and popular apps like WhatsApp and Instagram, making mobilization more difficult. Gatherings are now in small groups and away from large squares. At the university, some professors may tell him that “this movement will achieve nothing”Shirin wants to keep fighting.
“Girls are being killed at school because of a song. What seems so simple elsewhere can cost us our lives here. All we ask is to be able to live freely.”
Shirin, 24-year-old Iranian studentat franceinfo
Shirin doesn’t understand “why countries that defend freedoms have a very timid reaction to repression”. She explains that young Iranians are preparing a petition to ask these countries to extradite the diplomatic representatives of Iran, “shocked” to see that the children of its oppressors live in the West in the best conditions. Shirin does not wish to leave Iran. She wants “stay there to live there as a free woman”.
* The first name of the student testifying has been changed for security reasons.