British Iranian journalist and political analyst
A hashtag created in the name of a young woman who went into a coma and died following her arrest by Iran's police this week has passed the 1.6 million mark.
Originally from Saqqez in Kurdistan Province, the 22-year-old woman, Mahsa Amini, known as Zhina to family, collapsed at a detention center two hours after her arrest by a hijab enforcement patrol in Tehran. She passed away Friday afternoon at Kasra Hospital in northern Tehran due to severe brain injury.
A hospital source told Iran International Saturday evening that her brain tissue had been seriously damaged because of multiple blows to the head and there was no chance of surgery.
The hashtag’s popularity is only second to ‘Do Not Execute’ against the death penalty in 2020 which reached an staggering 10 million mark. the hashtag was first used to stop the execution of three young protesters in Iran.
Amini’s father speaking to Ham-Mihan newspaper denied various claims by Islamic Republic officials that his daughter’s death was caused by previous health conditions including epilepsy, hydrocephalus, and cardiovascular diseases.
Some women began cutting their hair as protest against forced hijab and posting the videos on social media.
According to Hengaw Human Rights Organization, a Kurdish rights group, the number of protesters wounded by security forces in Saqqez Saturday after the young woman’s burial has increased to thirty-three including a young man blinded by birdshots.
Iran’s exiled Prince Reza Pahlavi announced two days of public mourning in a statement, telling Iranians that they need to use their grief and anger to boost national solidarity against the Islamic Republic regime.
The former Crown Prince had issued a statement earlier calling the Islamic Republic “misogynistic” and asking Iranians to “stand up against this monstrosity.”
In July he had said that as long as Iranian women are not free, Iran will not be free, calling on men to be in the front lines in this struggle to support women in their struggle to reclaim their obvious and basic rights,” especially the freedom to choose what to wear.
Some Iranians consider Mr Pahlavi’s reaction inadequate in the circumstances and expect him to use his position which comes with some good degree of popularity to encourage action stronger than mere mourning.
“What is an announcement of two days of public mourning going to do for people mourning 24 hours a day, 365 days a year? It will be like pouring two cups of water in the sea. What are they supposed to do during the two days of mourning? Cry? Wail?” Arash Joudaki, essayist and philosophy professor in Belgium, tweeted Saturday, arguing that mourning decreases stamina for action against the regime. “Angry mourners must turn their grief and anger into a springboard for effective action!”
Joudaki replied to a comment from one of the supporters of the former Crown Prince who alleged he was “settling political scores” that he had no accounts to settle with the prince. Another Twitterati directly addressed Reza Pahlavi asking him why he has not been using public arenas to further the cause of the Iranian people. “Go lobby and make speeches at the UN. Aren’t allowed in the UN? Go make a speech in a university, or even in a cafe,” he wrote.
In a tweet Saturday, London-based journalist Pouria Zeraatisuggested that, if possible, businesses should go on strike, women should post their photos without hijab on social media, and people should put graffiti including Mahsa’s image and slogans against compulsory hijab on walls, and chant slogans on rooftops.
But as on previous occasions, the regime appears to be ready to crush protests using tens of thousands of anti-riot forces and armed civilian paramilitaries called the Basij. In nationwide protests in November 2019, these forces killed at least 1,500 unarmed protesters.
