THE FIGHT FOR HUMAN RIGHTS
Written by Emma Yin and Evan Leong with graphics by Oliver Fichte
As a girl, there are laws you must follow.
You must wear a hijab; you mustn’t let your hair show.
What happens if you don't want to cover your hair?
What if you walk out into the streets without a hijab?
You could very well be beaten to death by the morality police in your hometown of Tehran, Iran.
This is what happened to Mahsa Amini, a Kurdish-Iranian who died in police custody on Sept. 16 after being arrested by the Iranian morality police. Many suspect that the morality police beat her to death.
Amini’s death sparked outrage over Iran’s political autonomy over women’s bodies and the harsh control of the authoritarian government, especially the morality police.
According to the United States Department of Justice, the morality police are a legal force that regulates the Iranian government’s restrictions on freedom of expression and arrests women for wearing “inappropriate” hijabs.
Mass protests have spread across major cities in Iran since Amini’s death and have continued for the past three months. By setting their headscarves on fire or cutting their hair in public, women have clearly established their opposition to the regime.
Videos of these protests show chants of “woman, life, freedom,” and “death to the dictator,” a reference to Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
These demonstrations do, however, put protesters in danger.
“China has the most executions of any country, but then Iran is number two,” said David Gomez, a history teacher at Carlmont. “To be next to China [in executions] is very scary, and I feel a great amount of fear and sorrow for the people in Iran.”
Although security forces have denied killing peaceful demonstrators, they have been filmed firing live ammunition on the streets.
According to the United Nations (UN), “human rights include the right to life and liberty, freedom from slavery and torture, freedom of opinion and expression, the right to work and education, and many more.” The organization explains that human rights apply to all humans, regardless of race, background, religion, or any other status; under international human rights law, a country’s government must provide such rights.
The UN condemned the Iranian government’s actions, stating that Amini’s death was a strong example of Iran’s willingness to take away the freedom of expression.
“Human rights are freedoms that belong to everyone from birth until death. Human rights should be inherent and not something that has to be fought for,” said Iranian-American junior Mina Nazari.
The Iranian government has suppressed citizens' attempts to fight for human rights at every turn. According to the Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), at least 348 protesters have been killed and 15,900 others arrested in a crackdown by security forces in what Iran's leaders called foreign-backed "riots."
The Iranian government had in the past detained or prosecuted citizens for expressing themselves but has now even gone so far as to use security forces to kill people as young as 10 years old.
“It’s sad because you see people our age and younger who are innocent or bystanders fighting for basic human rights. They are fighting to have the same experiences that we [have]. They can’t experience the same things: you can’t kiss in public with your [significant] other or be trans. I think we should be grateful for what we have in the US and fight for those same freedoms [all over] the world,” said Hossein Hatami, a junior at Carlmont.
Adult protesters have also been executed; the first of such executions happened to Mohshen Shekari on Thursday, Dec. 8th.
Shekari was accused of blocking a street and attacking a security member with a machete; his lawyer’s appeals have been denied. Shekari was hanged after being arrested for less than three weeks.
According to Mizan, an Iranian News Agency, Shekari was arrested on Sept. 25 and convicted on the charge of “moharebeh,” which means “waging war against God” in Farsi. Many others have been convicted of moharebeh since the revolution of 1979. This ‘crime’ still carries the death penalty.
To stand up against the Iranian government’s actions, U.S. President Joe Biden has issued a statement denouncing the Iranian government for intensifying the “violent crackdown on peaceful protestors.” He also expressed support for the women of Iran.
“The women and men protesting are more than brave, and it’s great to see a more outspoken generation about women’s rights,” Nazari said. “It saddens me when I see that women are being killed for speaking up.”
Although there is great danger that comes with protesting, demonstrators know that their human rights are at stake; many are willing to pay the ultimate price to fight for what is rightfully theirs.
“Basically, the question is: would you give up safety for freedom or freedom for safety?” Hatami said. “The government won’t give the protesters either, so at the end of the day, I hope the regime will soon be gone.”
Graphic by Oliver Fichte
WHAT HAPPENED TO FREEDOM?
Written by Ujala Chauhan with graphics by Annabel Chia
When people picture Iran in 2022, they imagine streets lined with protestors, thick, black smoke, and once-blue skies tinted with darkness. They envision women covered head-to-toe in clothing, too afraid to step outside their homes because of an oppressive regime knocking on the front door.
When people picture Iran in 1970, they see a flourishing city bustling with men and women alike, women dressed in clothing of their choice: everything from baby blue dresses to yellow shirts with white shorts to match. They pictured busy shops with storekeepers, smiling as they leaned out the store’s front doors and into the fresh air, welcoming citizens and tourists alike to enter.
“Iran’s history is so rich and informational,” said Greer Stone, a history teacher at Carlmont High School. “It must be properly understood if you want to truly understand what is happening in Iran today.”
Before the Iranian Revolution of 1979, also known as the Islamic Revolution, Iran as liberal as the United States. Now, however, the two are incomparable.
While the Islamic Revolution is the root cause of this reality, the conflicts leading up to the revolution started well before 1979.
In 1905, a group of young revolutionaries led a movement to establish a parliament and lessen the power of the then-ruling monarchy. They were determined to tackle the government’s corruption and foreign influence.
This revolution, known as the Constitutional Revolution, proved successful, at least at first.
Mozaffar ad-Din Shah Qajar (romanized), who ruled Iran from 1896 to 1907, approved the new constitution in 1906 as one of his final ruling actions. His son, Mohammad Ali Shah Qajar dissolved the parliament, abolishing the constitution in 1908 after he took the throne in 1907.
However, the constitution was reinstated in a year later when Ali Shah Qajar was overthrown, and his son, Ahmad Shah Qajar, became the Shah in his stead.
The Constitutional Revolution laid the foundation for the soon-to-come Islamic Revolution; it showed that Iranian citizens no longer wanted to be recognized as subjects of an autocratic king.
“Without the Constitutional Revolution, the Islamic Revolution might never have happened,” Stone said. “It’s hard to say for sure, but I do know that it is a key part of Iran’s history.”
Starting in 1941, Iran was ruled by King Mohammad Reza Pahlavi for 38 years. Even before the Islamic Revolution, his grip on power was unsteady; communists and religious members of society disliked Pahlavi and his pro-Western government.
Pahlavi reformed Iran in many ways, including structuring Iran around a central Persian identity (though brutally suppressing tribes and their laws in exchange for a strong central government) and expanding women's rights. He encouraged women to attend school and receive an education.
Although the Shah intended to turn Iran into a modern westernized state, his bans on religious garments frustrated religious conservatives and traditionalists alike.
As tensions grew, the Shah continued his reforms as part of his “White Revolution.” He funded studying abroad in Europe for Iranians and built schools and clinics throughout the countryside to care for poorer children.
In 1979, however, things came to a stop when a popular movement fueled by outrage against government extravagance, corruption, brutality, and the suppression of individual rights turned into a full-scale revolution.
By the end of January, the Shah had fled Iran, and by February, Ayatollah Khomeini, emerging as the new leader of the Islamic Revolution, had seized Iran.
While many Iranians had originally supported Khomeini in hopes of obtaining democracy, they were soon met with disappointment. What began as trying to reinstate the beliefs of the Quran into Iranian laws (Sharia law) ended in countless murders.
“The Islamic Revolution was stolen by Ayatollah Khomeini,” said Nika Wuppernann, an Iranian-American junior at Carlmont. “He promised to transfer power to the people, but, in a month or so, he stole the revolution and did not transfer power to the people. He created his own government and began suppressing, arresting, and mass-executing.”
In addition, Iran’s new laws took away many rights from women. These included their abilities to give a testimony in court worth equal to that of a man, disagree to satisfy all of a man’s sexual needs, dress how they want, and many more.
The people and women of Iran have been fighting against this oppression since then, but the death of Mahsa Amini has been the breaking point that pushed the citizens to finally demand justice.
“I hope that the Iranian peoples’ courage to fight for their freedom and their basic human rights inspires [other] people to do the same, especially those living in similar circumstances,” said Tala Newell, an Iranian-American student at Carlmont High School. “Every human being in every country should be watching and rooting for the people of Iran.”