In the late 1970s, Iran was fighting against the Pahlavi dynasty, which culminated with the fall of the Imperial State of Persia on Jan 7, 1979, and the birth of the Islamic Republic of Iran. This marked a historical event where the struggle against the autocratic and sultanistic Imperial State of Persia came to a miserable end. The fall of the compromised monarchy gave a rise to high hope for a liberal and democratic country. Regrettably, Iranians saw their country shifted from an Imperial dictatorship toward an Islamic theocracy ruled by a Supreme Leader, Sayyid Ruhollah Musavi Khomeini who drastically restricted the rule of law, separation of powers, and democratic voting. In accordance with the Islamic Republic law, Khomeini introduced strict order resulting in the loss of Iranians’ hopes—hopes for a future that never came. Wearing the hijab became mandatory in public and increasing protests across the country prompted Iran's Leader to create the so-called morality police with the intention of arresting and using force to re-educate women on how to properly wear their hijab.
On Sept 16, 2022 the world has been distraught by the news of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish woman who died after being held in custody by the morality police for not properly wearing her hijab according to the Iran Islamic strict law. There are conflicting reports on the cause of her death but Amani's death provoked mass protests against the morality police and hijab law across the country, with a global support from citizens, communities, newspapers, and governments of multiple countries. The entire world is watching Iranian women burning their hijabs and cutting their hair in public and the Iranian schoolgirls removing their hijab and raising their voices to protest against the regime. The Iranian authorities continue repressing the riots by force, torture, ill-treatment, sexual assault, and gender-based sexual violence as well as arresting and killing dozens of people, including children and journalists.
In Iran, women are under the spotlight struggling for their rights and their role in society, which is still considered inferior to men. The continued fight of women for their rights and gender equality predispose them to mental health disorders. Sadly, in Iran 25% of women are affected by mental health disorders, including fearfulness, anxiety, depression, and suicide. Sahar Khodayari is a grim example of women's frustration caused by living under the rule of the illiberal Islamic Republic regime. Sahar Khodayari was a victim who decided to set herself alight after being arrested to sneak into a stadium to watch a match of her favourite football team. She was yet another woman subject to enforcement by Iranian law, which forbids women from entering into sport stadiums. She became a symbol named BlueGirl in honour of the colours of her adored football team.
Discrimination is one of the main issues Iranians are facing. The government introduced a new law for “Youthful population and protection of the family”, forcing women to complete their pregnancy, banning contraception and vasectomy, and only permitting tubectomy, in cases of risk to woman's life. Legal age for marriages has been stipulated at 13 years, increasing young marriage of 10·5% in 2020 compared with the previous year. Same-sex activity is prohibited, and gay and transgender people are at risk of violence, imprisonment, and execution. Gender non-conforming people are persecuted and forced to a legal gender change that most of the time requires surgery and sterilisation. Likewise ill-treated the ethnic and religious minorities such as Baha'i who have limited access to education, can be persecuted, detained, tortured, and sentenced to death for vague charges.
Iranians are tired, tired of a tyrannical regime that denies their freedom, tired to see their rights being trampled, tired to be frightened of living their lives. Although the effort of the Iranian government to repress the insurgence by force, violence, and shutting down internet, the outcry is growing and getting louder every day. There is still a long way to go to build a more inclusive and democratic country; however, Iranians teach the world now how the bravery and the power of people can change the hope of an entire nation. What the world is witnessing these days is a country where older and younger people, men and women, Iranians from inside and outside the country, people with different ethnicities, are unified by a single purpose—FREEDOM.