This Iranian Canadian's cousin was arrested suddenly in Iran. He wants you to know her name to protect her

Story by Yvette Brend • Friday

On Monday, a group of eight security police showed up at Semiramis Babaei's home in Tehran with a blank warrant, then used her brother's phone to send a text urging her to return home, according to her family in Canada.

No one has heard from the award-winning author and playwright since.

Her cousin, who lives in Vancouver, learned the news when he awoke at 4:30 a.m. PT and checked Instagram. He saw a message from family in Iran about the arrest.

"I was horrified," said Amir Bajehkian, 38, who lives near False Creek in Olympic Village.

He's one of many Iranian Canadians who live with a sickening fear for family members back in Iran, as they watch ongoing uprisings end in violence and mass arrests — and now, at least one execution.

Bajehkian wants the world to know his cousin's name to keep a spotlight on her situation. He believes that will help protect her.
'Change-makers' a target

Iran has been rocked by a nationwide uprising against the Islamic regime, touched off by the death of Mahsa (Zhina) Amini while in the custody of Iran's notorious morality police on Sept. 16, 2022.

There have been multiple reports of demonstrators disappearing after they are tracked and arrested by security forces.

Bajehkian says family who saw the arrest warrant say it did not state his cousin's name, and that the charges she may face were unclear.

"I feel powerless in this situation," Bajehkian said.

He says he's been fearful for family back in Iran, especially his flame-haired cousin, whose plays and writings are rebellious. He says Babaei produced award-winning theatre and translated Western classics into Farsi.

"She was this very sassy, funny character," he said.


People hold up a photo of Iranian woman Mahsa Amini as they participate in a protest against Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi outside of the United Nations on Sept. 21 in New York City.© Stephanie Keith/Getty Images

"They are going after those who are change-makers — lights in the darkness," said Bajehkian.


Security forces have cracked down — killing hundreds and injuring thousands, according to Amnesty International.

On Dec. 3, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi hailed Iran's Islamic Republic for protecting rights and freedoms, defending the ruling system as justified in cracking down on anti-government protests, which have cost more than 300 lives, according to Reuters.

But international human rights groups say that death estimate is low, and that Canada needs to push back.

The Canadian government imposed new sanctions on Friday, one day after the execution of protester Mohsen Shekari.

Shekari, 23, was accused of blocking a street on Sept. 25 and wounding a member of the pro-regime Basij militia in early protests triggered by Amini's death.

Iranian Canadian human rights advocate Nazanin Afshin-Jam condemns the execution calling Shekari's trial a "sham."

She says Iran hanged him after he was found guilty of "waging war against God."

Related video: Gravitas: Iran Supreme leader's family slams crackdown (WION)

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"The moment his mother found out there is video of her on the street wailing at the top of her lungs. It is absolutely heartbreaking," said Afshin-Jam, who founded the volunteer organization Stop Child Executions, from an interview in Nova Scotia.

"This is completely a political execution in order to send a message to peaceful protesters to halt their uprising," she said.

"If the international community doesn't act with a strong response, it gives licence to carry out further executions. At least 10 others are at imminent risk of execution, including a physician and his wife who were aiding a wounded protester."

Numbers are unclear

Arrest and death counts related to the Iranian uprising remain highly contentious.

Amnesty International UK says a leaked audio file obtained by BBC Persian estimated there have been around 15,000 arrests with many "subjected to enforced disappearance, incommunicado detention, torture and other ill treatment, and unfair trials."



Naz Gharai, from Tehran, is covered in red paint as protesters call on the United Nations to take action against the treatment of women in Iran during a demonstration near UN headquarters in New York City on Nov. 19.© Yuki Iwamura/AFP/Getty Images

Oslo-based non-governmental organization Iran Human Rights says the country's security forces have killed at least 458 protesters, including 63 children.

On Dec. 9, Amnesty International reported it had confirmed the deaths of at least 44 children killed by Iran's security forces since September.The deaths were attributed to shots, metal pellets, beatings — and in one case, a girl was struck in the head by a tear gas canister.

Amnesty International confirms 21 at risk of death penalty

A list of 21 Iranians at risk of execution has been confirmed by Amnesty International.

The list included six men charged with "enmity against God" or "corruption on Earth," of which five were already sentenced and referred to the Revolutionary Court in Tehran for a group trial.

They include Mohammad Ghobadlou, Saman Seydi (Yasin), Saeed Shirazi, Mohammad Boroughani, Abolfazl Mehri Hossein Hajilou, and Mohsen Rezazadeh Gharagholou.

Three others — Sahand Nourmohammad-Zadeh, Mahan Sedarat Madani and Manouchehr Mehman-Navaz — face separate trials. According to Amnesty eight of these cases involve "no accusations of intentional killing," and stem from alleged vandalism, arson, property destruction or disturbing public order."

Eleven more people — including married couple Farzaneh Ghare-Hasanlou and Hamid Ghare-Hasanlou — are accused of "corruption on earth" before a Revolutionary Court in Karaj, Alborz province, according to Amnesty.

And 26-year-old Parham Parvari, who was also charged with "enmity against God" after being arrested as he was returning home from work during protests in the capital Tehran.

Afshin-Jam believes the estimates of how many have died or are at risk of the death penalty are low.

She says 28 people are facing charges that could carry the death penalty, including two children and Iranian rapper Saman (Yesin) Seyedi, 24.

She says the Center for Human Rights in Iran is reporting 475 people have been killed and 18,000 arrested since September.

She is urging world nations to cut ties with Iran and freeze the assets of regime officials and their families including 83-year-old Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and President Ebrahim Raisi.

"This is a red line that must not be crossed," she said.

Iranian Canadians with family at risk

For Amir Bajehkian, naming and publicizing as many people at risk as possible holds power.

"It is very important because what the regime wants is for people to forget about who's behind the walls of prisons. You have to talk about it," he said.

But he knows there's fear in the Iranian community.

Bajehkian has been advocating for human rights in Iran on Canadian streets organizing rallies and protests since 2009 knowing it would put him at risk. He hasn't returned to Iran in 17 years.

After vanished, the Iranian Playwrights' Association issued a statement condemning her arrest, demanding her release and denouncing "all forms of intimidation, violence, and restriction on freedom of speech in the society."

Bajehkian wants his cousin released from Evin prison in Tehran, where he believes she is being held.

He knows that's where Iran's regime often holds political prisoners and where Iranian Canadian photographer Zahra Kazemi was tortured and killed back in 2003.

So he's shouting his cousin's name.

"Silence is not the answer," he said.

"Definitely what's brought us to this moment was four decades of the world looking the other way."

A Girl's-Eye View of What's Happening in Iran

LONG READ

Nick Hilden
Thu, November 17, 2022 

A Girl's-Eye View of What's Happening in Iran

Mike Kim

Iran never seemed to get much consideration from Americans of my generation. It was more of a Boomer thing. Our parents watched the events of the 1970s and 1980s—the Revolution, the hostage crisis, the spiral into repressive theocracy—and so for them, Iran has loomed as a very real, potentially hostile presence. But for millennials who missed all of that, Iran was old news; instead, the Taliban and ISIS were our generational Islamabaddies. Iran’s Supreme Leader would pop up in the news now and again—arrested journalists here, yellow cake there, the will-they-won’t-they of the nuclear deal—but we didn’t pay much attention to anything that resembled a war MacGuffin, having seen the fallout from the Great Aluminum Tube Scare of 2002. We had a bad case of Middle East burnout, in other words.

But if you’ve seen the news, you know that there’s something happening in Iran. What it is isn’t exactly clear—not yet, at least. But it very well could become one of the great advancements in human rights of our time. The world should pay attention—perhaps particularly Americans, who presently find themselves faced with wide-ranging attempts to wrest away hard-won liberties at the hands of a religious zealotry. It’s important to understand what happens when your country falls into the grip of a theocracy.

This story begins and ends with a young woman’s hair, but that’s not what it’s about. Presently, women’s hair, normally an aesthetic concern, is symbolic of something much more. Something revolutionary.

In September, my soon-to-be-niece, Azadeh, flew from Tehran to Istanbul, where she joined my partner Najwa and I to spend her two-week vacation from school. We met her at the airport, and during the taxi ride home, she alternated between excited chatter and shy silence. Though she is close to my partner, it was my first time meeting her, or indeed anyone from Najwa’s family. (Names have been changed out of consideration for safety.)

It was Azadeh’s first trip of this kind: her first solo flight, her first time traveling without her mother and grandmother—my fiancée’s ardently religious maman (my eventual maman-in-law)—and one of the few times in her life when she could go out into the streets without wearing hijab.

I asked what she would like to do while in Istanbul. She smiled somewhat uncertainly and spoke to Najwa in rapid Farsi, which was her tendency until she got to know me better, even though her English is quite good. All I caught was the word Starbucks.

Najwa laughed. “She wants to go to Starbucks.”

Azadeh bristled a bit at the laugh, thinking that maybe she was being teased, then said in English, “It is probably normal for you, but we do not have it in Iran.”

As it turned out, she had a list of brands she wanted to try (she would later declare that Burger King is better than McDonald's, though she thought both were pretty terrible), and while I usually avoid such places, I assured her that we would go. It made sense that a teenager would want to experience pop icons of their ilk, and besides: we always want what we can’t have. Iranians—particularly Iranian women—are barred from a great many things. Western junk chains are the least of them.

At our apartment, Azadeh showered the flight off, then we went out to eat kebab. We were staying in a more traditional district of Istanbul where many women choose to wear hijab, but as we walked through the city’s late summer heat, Azadeh ran her fingers through her long black hair and giggled.

“I’ve never felt my hair dry in the sun before,” she said. “It’s always covered.”

The date was September 10th, 2022. Less than a week later, a 22-year-old Kurdish woman named Jina Amini—more widely known as Mahsa Amini—would die in a Tehran hospital after being arrested by the morality police of the Iranian government for the alleged crime of “improper hijab.” According to witnesses, she was severely beaten while in custody. Iran—and perhaps the world—was about to change.

Najwa and I had flown into Istanbul about a week earlier from the Netherlands, where we attended a conference for Iranian academics and activists in The Hague. There we met a veritable who’s who of Iranian intellectuals-in-exile, including Najwa’s mentor, a Los Angeles-based university professor whom she’d never met in person. When you’re part of a diaspora, digital relationships and networks are powerful tools for maintaining a community scattered across disparate corners of the globe.

I attended the first day of the conference, which was held in English and featured lectures and panel discussions on a variety of topics. More than anything, it struck me as an opportunity for diasporic intellectuals critical of the Islamic Republic—the title given to Iran by its current theocratic regime, a notoriously repressive circumstance that has persisted for more than 40 years—to gather in the real world over coffee and, in the evening, something stronger.

That morning before things kicked off, I stood off to the edge and watched as these provocative Persians became reacquainted, for most of them seemed to know each other. Many went way back, having worked in some degree of concordance ever since leaving their home country in the years and decades following the 1979 Iranian Revolution. Most could not return without fearing prison or worse, because they advocated opinions not shared by the Islamic Republic, and because they outright opposed it. Some appeared to be in their thirties and looked like activists, but many were older and looked like university professors. Many, if not most, are.

After watching a Q&A between Najwa’s mentor Dr. Nayereh Tohidi and a professor named Asef Bayat, who spoke about his concept of non-movement (an idea that encapsulates the ways ordinary people can drive revolutionary change through their everyday actions), I sat in on a talk entitled “Scholars and Artists at Risk,” where lawyer Andra Matei spoke on the need for an international framework for the legal defense of artistic freedom of expression.

Matei—who had the assiduous attitude of a person busied and burdened by a great many responsibilities—operates an organization called Avant-Garde Lawyers that provides legal counsel to artists under attack all over the world. She would later tell me about a case she’s working on that involves a poet the Egyptian government has imprisoned for crimes associated with a song and book of poetry he’d written. According to the freedom of expression advocate organization PEN, these crimes include “blasphemy,” “insulting the military,” and “contempt of religion.” The director of the song’s music video had already died in prison; now, the poet’s release was uncertain.

We discussed the case more before our talk turned to attacks on the freedom of expression in general. It is, we agreed, a global issue. Just two weeks earlier, author Salman Rushdie had been brutally stabbed in western New York more than three decades after Ayatollah Khomeini, the predecessor to Iran’s current Supreme Leader, issued a fatwa accusing the writer of blasphemy and calling for his death. Later that very day, the Turkish singer Gülşen would be arrested for making a joke about the country’s religious schools during a performance.

“Americans like to imagine that it’s only a problem in far-off places like the Middle East,” I noted, “but all across the United States, religious conservatives are banning books that contain anything they don’t agree with. It’s not a long stretch of the mind to see how that could someday evolve into arrests for blasphemy.”

“And at the same time,” Matei exclaimed, “you have liberal college students who demand safe spaces where they don’t have to hear anything they don’t agree with.” Blasphemy of another form.

If blasphemy is a matter of perspective, who gets to define and dole out punishments for it? Humanity is not homogenous. We have nonuniform notions, and history has repeatedly proven that the expectation of adherence to a single conception is destined to be met with dissonance. To deem such difference and dissension intolerable—illegal, even—has well-known, tragic outcomes, from Auschwitz to the Killing Fields, COINTELPRO to the Revolutionary Guard, and so on.

I told Matei that I would poke around and try to find a home for this story. That the Egyptian government is vanishing songwriters into prison struck me as deserving more coverage than it’s gotten.

Dinner that evening was a chaotic affair where beer and wine were poured steadily between various toasts and speeches. There were about eighty of us crammed into a restaurant, and Persian was the dominant tongue.

Seated across from me was activist and writer Mansoureh Shojaee, who went into exile after her efforts to advance women’s rights, including the Iranian Women’s Movement Museum, landed her in the country’s infamous Evin Prison in 2009. A frenetic woman of 64, Shojaee constantly seemed to be holding six conversations at once with the other members of the diaspora seated at our table. These included Nayereh Tohidi and her husband Kazem Alamdari; Dutch Senator Farah Karimi, who had fled Iran in the early 1980s; University of Sussex scholar Kamran Matin; and Bayat, among many others. It was a table at which you could practically taste the smart-stew simmering, even through the scourge of jetlag. Said jetlag was subdued (or perhaps accentuated) by an unfaltering flow of booze and tea.

The next morning, I took my hangover to check out the Peace Palace and the International Court of Justice. While there, I tried to take a photo of the World Peace Flame, but it was very small and difficult to capture. Barely a flicker.

The World Peace Flame, barely flickering in The Hague.

Nick Hilden

A few weeks later, I was in Istanbul, and Azadeh walked into the room where I was working with a troubled, almost frightened expression on her face. I gave her only a fraction of my attention, focused as I was on trying to wrangle a publisher for the Egypt story. There was frustratingly little interest.

In any case, I diverted a sliver of my bandwidth to my niece-to-be and asked if something was wrong.

“A girl has been killed,” she informed me, her voice solemn. “In Tehran. By the Morality Police. They arrested her and beat her for not wearing hijab properly. And she died.”

In retrospect, my response was poor. Dismissive, almost. I believe I shook my head and said it was sad, but that was all. I was busy and perhaps resented the distraction a little. To me, it sounded like more bad news from a place where bad news, particularly bad news for women, came as no surprise. Azadeh knew better, however—she seemed to intuit that something new was happening or was about to happen, and she persisted.

“Her name was Mahsa Amini,” she continued. “She was not even from Tehran. She was from the Kurdistan of Iran. She was just visiting with her brother, but they killed her anyway.”

She pursed her lips and shrugged her tiny teenage frame as if to say, That is that. That is the way things are. But I could see that she was deeply troubled by what had happened to this woman. I, however, changed the subject and asked if she would like to go to the iconic Galata neighborhood at some point and take some photos, for she is an aspiring photographer. She agreed and I turned back to the screen.

It only took a few hours following Mahsa Amini’s death for protests to spark in Tehran before exploding across the country over the next few days. What appeared to begin as a few scattered, angry gatherings soon erupted into street battles against riot police and elements of the Revolutionary Guard. At first, the primary weapons seemed to be rocks versus batons, but it wasn’t long before Molotov cocktails and gunfire were popping up in videos emerging from all over the country.

Now I was paying attention. In Istanbul, we were watching events unfold minute by minute. Not via the news—traditional media outlets were late by days and even weeks—but by following relevant hashtags like #MahsaAmini, #IranProtests2022, and #IranRevolution2022. Social media was increasingly entering the fray, which is important considering how much the Islamic Republic’s strategy leverages propaganda and misinformation. Even Anonymous claimed to have joined the fight, with the hacker collective and affiliated groups saying they had disrupted Iranian government systems, cameras, and the website of the central bank.

A picture obtained by AFP outside Iran on September 21, 2022, shows Iranian demonstrators taking to the streets of Tehran during a protest for Mahsa Amini, days after she died in police custody. - - Getty Images

As the days passed, it became apparent that this was different from previous protests—these appeared angrier, more widespread, and more sustained. Azadeh, Najwa, and I watched videos leaking out of the country via social media late into the night, stunned by what seemed to be something heretofore unseen. Videos of women dancing and burning their hijabs in the street. Of crowds of protesters hurling barrages of rocks at police. Of crowds chanting death to the dictator and tearing down images of the Supreme Leader. Videos of the police and militias beating women with batons. Of police carefully taking aim and methodically shooting at protesters. Of a young girl apparently shot, her limp body in the arms of a desperate fleeing man. Of a mother wailing over her child’s body. Of blindfolded prisoners herded into jails en masse.

And then the government started shutting down huge swathes of the internet. This is a common tactic among authoritarians attempting not only to disrupt protests, but also hide what’s going on from the world.

News from Iran slowed to a trickle. Many on the outside agonized over its absence.

We decided to keep our niece with us for another couple of weeks to see how things would shake out. One day while Najwa was working, Azadeh and I rode the bus across the city to the bustling tourist district of Galata, where we planned to visit an art gallery and photograph the neighborhood.

On the bus, Azadeh showed me videos posted to social media by pop stars declaring their support for the people of Iran. She asked me if I thought it would help, and I told her I didn’t know—that it couldn’t hurt. That it meant the world was paying attention.

Our conversation turned, as it so often had over the preceding days, to our most optimistic of topics: what things would be like after the regime fell (the ultimate goal of the protests). No more compulsory hijab! Political prisoners freed! Dance clubs! And—eventually—the normalization of relations between Iran and the rest of the world. Greater passport strength for the Iranians, meaning more freedom of movement and expanded access to opportunities. Perhaps it would become easier for Azadeh to study abroad, a proposition that currently lands somewhere between difficult and impossible.

Then there was how it could impact the Middle East in general. The Islamic Republic fuels much of the region’s conflict, from drawing the ire and involvement of the United States, to consistently ratcheting up hostility with neighbors like Saudi Arabia and Israel, to fueling terrorist organizations scattered across several countries. A new secular democratic government could dramatically ease tension across the board. The people’s ousting of a hardline Islamist government could also inspire similar efforts in nations like Iraq and Afghanistan. On a wider scope, a less isolated and antagonistic government could ease some of the proxy brinkmanship between the US and Russia.

It’s a big deal, in other words, with potentially transformative implications.

“It’s so sad that Mahsa Amini had to die before people got angry enough to do something,” Azadeh mused, more thoughtful than gloomy. She paused and considered. “Maybe the only way change happens is if somebody dies.”

Everyone near us on the crowded bus looked at her. Our apartment was in a part of the city where English speakers are few, but they all understood that.

Young women in Istanbul, hair uncovered. 

Nick Hilden

At the art gallery, everything reminded her of Iran. A series of plaster casts of women’s heads hanging by their hair, mouths bloodied. Ceramic figurines of elaborately dressed women, their guts hanging out. A display of women’s portraits, the ink dripping and obscuring their features. After that we made our way down the steep alleys that snake beneath Galata Tower, and as we went along, Azadeh snapped photos of strange-looking doors, random people, and cats.

Eventually we were tired from all the heat and from walking up and down the hill, so we stopped to cool off at… Starbucks, of course. Yes, Turkey is famed for its coffee, but sometimes being an uncle requires sacrifice.

The place was packed with college students, which inspired us to discuss something other than the events in Iran—a welcome break from what was becoming an increasingly fraught subject. Azadeh would be graduating soon and was considering where she would like to attend university. Istanbul topped the list for a number of reasons, not the least of which involved the fact that it wasn’t in Iran, was relatively welcoming to Iranians, and Azadeh already had a working grasp of the language. Above all, it would offer educational and artistic opportunities and freedoms that simply aren’t an option for students in Iran.

She wanted to study graphic design, but worried that her education in Iran had not properly prepared her for a university-level program. With a scornful expression, she explained that they spent too much time studying what she called “Islamic Republic bullshit.”

“Look at that girl,” she said. I’d noticed that she had been watching one of the university students, a young woman with long brown hair who was sitting alone before her laptop and typing intently. She looked to me like a typical college kid that you would encounter anywhere in the world. Azadeh sighed. “She’s so cool. What I want is to be like her, just working on my computer at Starbucks.”

I got the sense—not for the first time and not the last—that Azadeh and the Iranians are suspended in time, waiting for its gears to re-engage and start turning so they can once again move forward. It is a country and a people imprisoned—both metaphorically and in some cases (far too many cases) literally—by an ideology of control. Girls like Azadeh wait for deceptively simple things, like the ability to wear their hair out or enroll in school free of constructed sociopolitical barriers. For those living in exile, time seems to have stopped in 1979. They’ve spent decades in anticipation, fixated on the question of their country, waiting for the day when change will come and they are free to consider new quandaries. Waiting for the day when they can return home without fear of reprisal, without fearing for their very lives or those of their families. Waiting to move on.

A few days later, I interviewed the Turkish novelist and Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk for The Washington Post. Political repression was at the core of our conversation.

“There is no free speech in Turkey,” Pamuk told me.

In Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has ruled as president for nearly a decade, pushing an increasingly authoritarian agenda and courting the Islamists. In the wake of a coup attempt in 2016, the Turkish government arrested thousands of dissidents, including judges and prosecutors, and shuttered scores of media organizations. Shortly after my arrival in Istanbul, there was a large anti-LGBTQ demonstration—this came just months after a violent police assault on the local Pride march. Artists have been imprisoned (like the aforementioned Gülşen, who, reports say, spent five days in jail, fifteen under house arrest, and in October made her first appearance in court while facing a sentence of up to three years—all for joking that her bandmate became a pervert after attending a religious school). Dozens of journalists and writers have been imprisoned too. Now Pamuk has drawn the government’s ire and is currently the subject of an open investigation for insulting the flag and the country’s founder—”crimes” punishable with up to three years in prison.

I asked Pamuk if he would go into prison or flee into exile. He was flippant, saying the question was too hypothetical, but I was not so sure. I’d been spending a lot of time around Iranians for whom prison or exile was an all too real consideration, and Turkey was looking more and more like Iran. This was a concern that Azadeh had raised.

“My niece is Iranian and wants to go to school in Turkey,” I mentioned, “but she’s worried that Erdoğan is turning Turkey into Iran.”

“It’s not true,” he said. “Turkish bureaucracy for many years resisted Erdoğan and now forty percent is secular. Even some people who voted for Erdoğan are secular. Now Turkey is suffering from immense, immense poverty because of the mismanagement of Erdoğan. He will lose even Islamist votes or conservative votes in the next election. So it's not the same situation.

“I respect, admire, and back the brave people of Iran, the brave women of Iran who went out in the streets and protested against power,” he said. “If there were free elections in Iran, no one would vote for the present government. So at least we have a ballot to vote, and the government may change. I hope it will change. I believe it will change. In Iran, they don't have that.”

Ten days after speaking with Pamuk about hypothetical imprisonment, I was confronted by the real deal.

We’d flown back to The Hague, Najwa and I, for an event called “From Evin with Love”—the opening of an exhibition of artwork and handicrafts created by women activists held captive at Iran’s infamous Evin Prison. Launched by Mansoureh Shojaee, who herself had been incarcerated in Evin, the event featured speeches by Senator Farah Karimi (who said that two days before, her niece had been attacked in the street by three men who thought her hijab wasn’t up to snuff), Halleh Ghorashi (another Iranian academic and refugee), and British-Iranian Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who was detained in Evin following her 2016 arrest, before being moved to house arrest in 2020, then finally released in March of this year.

There was supposed to be another speaker—Mehraveh Khandan, the daughter of human rights lawyer and activist Nasrin Sotoudeh—but according to Karimi, when she arrived at the airport to fly to the Netherlands, police agents prevented her from leaving the country.

During her speech, Shojaee summed up the situation:

“The citizens of Iran are calling for justice, equality, and freedom, and the world should listen to their chant: Women, Life, Freedom… Women, Life, Freedom is a movement to reveal not only women’s dignity, but human dignity. In this slogan, women represents all of the groups being oppressed in Iran. Life stands for people’s demand for a dignified life, where citizens have access to basic civil rights. Freedom, because Iranians want a democratic society where freedom of expression is a right and nobody can be put in jail for expressing their ideas, gender identity, religion, or political stance. Although these demands may seem natural to you, in the past forty years under the Islamic Republic, thousands of Iranians have been imprisoned or even executed for demanding such rights… We are dedicating this year’s exhibition to Mahsa Amini, whose life was taken by Morality Police violence.”

Protestors in London hold up "Woman, Life, Freedom" signs and Iranian flags.

SOPA Images - Getty Images

Woman, Life, Freedom, or in the original Kurdish Jin, Jiyan, Azadi, has become the rallying cry for Iranian protesters. You hear it chanted by both women and men on the front lines of the battle against the forces of the Islamic Republic, and it is the spirit of a movement that has spread to universities, high schools, and even primary schools. As I stood at the back of the room listening to the speeches, watching the crowd of mostly women—many of whom had been waiting for change for decades—I could sense a palpable feeling in the air: hope. There was also, however, an undeniable atmosphere of anticipation that bordered on dread—for who knew what horrors awaited between that moment and the hopeful victory?

After the speeches, we were all separated into groups and blindfolded before being led into the exhibition by volunteers shouting directions. The intention was to provide visitors with a taste of what it’s like to be herded into Evin Prison at the cajoling of the Secret Police—the blindfolds, the uncertainty, the shouted commands.

Finally, we removed our blindfolds to reveal an array of handicrafts by the women prisoners of Evin, each of which had been carefully smuggled out of Iran. These included dolls, scarves, leatherworks, bags, paintings, poems, and other pieces of art, a few of which had been produced by Nasrin Sotoudeh (whose daughter had been prevented from attending the exhibition), as well as the renowned activist Narges Mohammadi, whose recent book chronicles the experiences of women held in solitary confinement in Iran.

Knowing where and under what conditions they were made gave these simple items a surfeit of power. Many were colorful—almost playful even, as they were originally crafted as gifts for the imprisoned women’s children. The effect of this incongruity—blithe color emerging from a place of stone and torture—was both uplifting and chilling. The latter sensation was heightened by the soundtrack playing over the exhibit: the distorted wails, we were told, of mothers whose children had been murdered by the Islamic Republic during the protests.

The following evening, by coincidence, there came more alarming news from Iran: Evin Prison was on fire.

Videos showed the building in flames while gunfire could be heard from within. Security forces, including a branch of the Revolutionary Guard, were deployed to the scene and analysts later concluded that they launched stun grenades into the prison. At the time, there was no explanation for the fire, but Iranians widely assumed that it was part of an effort to liquidate the political prisoners held there. Fear and outrage coursed through online networks.

According to The Washington Post, one prisoner later told his family that when he and other political prisoners attempted to smash through the gates of their ward to escape the fire, guards responded with bullets and tear gas. Amnesty International said in a statement that its investigation into the incident “raises serious concerns” that the authorities used the fire and resulting unrest as an excuse to justify a “bloody crackdown” on prisoners. Later, officials would claim that eight were killed and about sixty injured, but many activists say that the actual numbers are higher. According to activists, many prisoners were then transferred to prisons across the country, an intentional tactic used by the Islamic Republic to create distance between the imprisoned and their families.

Shojaee didn’t sleep that night. I know because Najwa (who also barely slept) and I went to her home for dinner the following day, where she fed us the traditional Iranian dish ghormeh sabzi (a stew of lamb, herbs, dried limes, and beans) along with saffron-dusted rice. She’d been up all night, then spent hours walking from her home in the heart of The Hague to the beach, then back again.

All evening, Shojaee spoke fast and nervous, but she was always charming and indulgent, darting around her apartment playing the good host (which is so Persian—tending to guests in the face of disaster). But her mind was obviously someplace else: with her friends and the other prisoners of Evin. We avoided the topic for a while, but after a few drinks, talk of the prison slipped out. She expressed concern about her friend Narges Mohammadi, whose health conditions could have been exacerbated by the smoke. Medical care is notoriously negligent at the prison. But in any case, Shojaee remained defiant.

“It should be written,” she declared, “that in the history of Iran, even in prison, they fought.”

This image obtained from the Iranian news agency IRNA on October 16, 2022, shows a fire truck in front of Evin Prison, after the blaze.- - Getty Images

How the Iranian protests of 2022 are written into history will depend on how they end. In Istanbul, before Najwa and I returned to the Hague for the Evin exhibition, we spent weeks watching the protests in Iran, thinking each day might be the last, that people would tire of being beaten and gassed and shot and arrested and murdered by riot police. But it didn’t happen. The unrest—which was looking more like a revolution every day—went on. Within less than two months, some 15,000 Iranians would be arrested for protesting or otherwise associating with the demonstrations, and an overwhelming majority of the country’s parliament would sign a letter making a case for their execution. On November 13th, the first death sentence was handed down.

A young woman wearing her hair out in Istanbul.

Courtesy of Azadeh

But that was all yet to pass. After a month, the time came to send Azadeh home, violence or no, because she couldn’t miss any more school. But as the protests continue, the schools have ceased to be places of education and have instead become battlegrounds. Girls are speaking up and removing their hijab. A video shared widely in October showed them chanting at and chasing a man, allegedly an official from the Iranian Ministry of Education, throwing water bottles at him as he fled, while some teachers have joined strikes in opposition to the government. Videos have been circulating in private networks appearing to show girls being attacked, beaten, and arrested on school grounds after pro-regime principals reported them to authorities for the “crimes” of refusing hijab and chanting protest slogans.

Before taxiing Azadeh to the airport, we went shopping for a few things for her to bring back to Najwa’s family—mundane but quality products like laptop bags and milk frothers that cannot be obtained in Iran due to sanctions—then stopped for a lunch of kebab.

When we left the restaurant, the day was trying to decide whether it would storm or shine. The sky was cloudy and the wind strong, but the sun was trying to break through. As we walked down the street, I heard Azadeh giggle from behind me, and I turned to find her patting down her frizzy black mane, which was flying unkempt and wild in the wind.

“My hair,” she giggled again, a wide smile on her face. My heart sank knowing that in a few short hours, she would be forced to corral it beneath compulsory hijab once again, and she would be faced with uncertain dangers.

Azadeh photographing Istanbul.

Nick Hilden

We collected her luggage from our apartment, then went out to meet the taxi. As it carried us to the airport, I didn’t have much to say. I was worried. The news out of Iran was bad. The number of protesters killed was soaring, among them a 16-year-old girl named Nika Shakarami, whose mother accused the authorities of murdering her and extracting forced statements from members of her family saying otherwise. Now she was just another hashtag on Twitter, and when I looked at her photograph, I saw in it the young face of my soon-to-be niece. It made me feel ill.

Najwa and Azadeh, on the other hand, chatted amiably with our taxi driver, who recognized their Farsi and informed them that he used to work as a truck driver in Iran. A beautiful country, he said, and expressed his support for the protests and his distaste for the mullahs. The driver told us that if the regime fell but Erdoğan was reelected, he would move to Iran. It’s a sentiment I’ve heard all over the world. Everyone everywhere has their own “Canada” they say they’ll move to if everything goes to shit. And damned if an awful lot of us aren’t eyeing our Canadas these days.

At the airport, we checked Azadeh into her flight, then walked her to security. Once there, she embraced Najwa and held her for a very long time. She said that she didn’t want to go back. That her month away from Iran was one of the best of her life.

“When will I see you again?” she asked through tears.

Najwa held her and tried to smile. “Soon.”

Eventually they parted. Azadeh and I exchanged a quick hug, and I attempted to say something but most of it ended up stuck in the hollow feeling in my stomach.

Azadeh’s headscarf was in her backpack, but she wouldn’t wear it until she absolutely had to. We watched her raven-colored head as it wove through the line, eventually making it to passport control, where she was held up for longer than necessary—Iranians always receive extra scrutiny. Finally she was through. She turned and waved, then disappeared from view.

Nazanin Boniadi Recalls 'Traumatizing Encounter with the So-Called Morality Police' in Iran at Age 12

Jen Juneau
Thu, November 17, 2022 

Nazanin Boniadi

Jon Kopaloff/Getty

Nazanin Boniadi is recalling a "traumatic" experience she had as an adolescent that is inspiring her to "use [her] voice" in support of women and girls in Iran.

On Wednesday, the Bombshell actress, 42, gave a moving keynote speech at the Academy Museum in Los Angeles, during the Academy Women's Luncheon presented by Chanel, about once being approached by the "so-called morality police" in her birth country.

"My parents realized the dangers of raising a daughter in a social, political and legal climate that was growing increasingly oppressive, particularly towards women and girls," she said. "Although they were granted political asylum in London when I was just 3 weeks old, the challenges facing women in Iran became ingrained in my psyche."

"And after traveling across Iran when I was 12 and a traumatizing encounter with the so-called morality police tasked with enforcing the country's Islamic dress code and behavior, I knew I had to use my voice to promote theirs," added Boniadi, who was born in Tehran but raised in the U.K.

Boniadi's speech came two months after the death of Iranian woman Mahsa Amini. According to the U.S. Treasury Department, Amini, 22, was transferred to a hospital in a coma the same day she was detained for allegedly wearing her hijab too loosely, "and died two days later from internal injuries."

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Women hold signs and chant slogans during a protest over the death of Iranian Mahsa Amini outside the Iranian Consulate on September 29, 2022 in Istanbul, Turkey. Mahsa Amini fell into a coma and died after being arrested in Tehran by the morality police, for allegedly violating the countries hijab rules. Amini's death has sparked weeks of violent protests across Iran.More

Chris McGrath/Getty Protest over the death of Mahsa Amini in Istanbul, Turkey

RELATED: Marion Cotillard and Juliette Binoche Cut Their Hair in Support of Iranian Civil Rights Protesters

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power star went on to say in her speech that "Mahsa Amini's murder has forced us to reckon with our complacency in protecting the rights of women globally."

"Perhaps it's the understanding of the fragility of our freedoms that has galvanized the world around Mahsa and plight to women in Iran," Boniadi continued. "Not since the anti-Apartheid movement of South Africa have we seen the level of global attention to the fight to end any kind of segregation anywhere. But how do we, the creative community, turn our outrage into meaningful action and prevent the Iran authorities from crushing yet another uprising?"

Boniadi shouted out fellow celebrities whom she says have "successfully used their platforms to amplify and elevate the movement," like Alfre Woodard, Danny Glover and Blair Underwood.

"That's exactly what we need to do for Iran right now," she said. "We need the world to send a strong message to the Iranian authorities. Their crimes will not remain uninvestigated or unpunished. We have to demand that our representatives stand unequivocally with the Iranian people and hold the Islamic Republic regime to account for their crimes under international law."

Near the end of her speech, Boniadi implored listeners to protest, network and "continue to amplify the voices of the Iranian people on social media by following and sharing information from credible activists and organizations," asking her "greater artistic community" to "join us in our fight for a free Iran."

Boniadi spoke about her early life in Iran to Katie Couric last month, explaining how her parents "were opposed to the newly formed Islamic Republic regime" following the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

As a result, the family escaped to London when the Hotel Mumbai actress was just 20 days old — as her "father was on an execution list" in Iran.

Boniadi, who is an ambassador for Amnesty International U.K. ambassador and member of the Council on Foreign Relations, also recalled "having the freedom of dress taken away from me" the first time she visited Iran after the move, when she was 12 years old, being "forced to wear a hijab."

"A member of the so-called morality police came up to me and my uncle, and in a very harsh tone demanded that we prove that we were married, because we were simply walking down the street," Boniadi told Couric, 65. "It was such a jarring, harrowing experience. It was seared into my mind. I remember thinking at that moment that if I ever had a platform where I could tell people what the everyday experience of young girls in Iran is, I would share that."

"I've been fighting for 14 years to amplify the voices of the Iranian people against their oppressive regime," she added. "And I will continue until they achieve the freedom they deserve."

‘It was very emotional’: B.C. woman describes taking part in protests in Iran

By Negar Mojtahedi  Global News

Posted November 17, 2022 

Nazanin, a B.C. woman, recently returned home to Metro Vancouver from Iran after taking part in protests and witnessing events that have left her with nightmares.

“There was a young man shot in his chest and he had difficulty breathing,” Nazanin told Global News. She said the other protesters provided first aid because going to a hospital would get one arrested.

Global News is not revealing Nazanin’s identity for fear that speaking out could put her life in danger.

She left Iran before the uprisings were sparked in September by the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old who died while in the custody of the so-called Morality Police for apparently wearing her hijab improperly.

1:31Vancouver resident describes his time at Evin Prison in Iran

Nazanin was in Iran to help a close family member with serious health issues and witnessed the country transform overnight.

“After the death of Amini people were so mad and upset at the Islamic Republic for 44 years of brutality, dictatorship, lack of human rights and lying to people,” she said.

She described the night she joined protests as a defining moment in her life.

“The Basiji attacked us with tear gas and shooting. We all run away and one kind man opened his door and we rushed to his home.”

She said her eyes were burning from tear gas.

READ MORE: Iranian-born Canadian fears for his friends in Iranian prison where he spent 11 years

A protestor, she said, warned her not to touch her eyes and blew cigarette smoke towards her eyes to help relieve the stinging pain.

She said it was beautiful to witness unity and bravery but devastating to witness the inhumane crackdown of protestors.

“I had a mixture of feelings. Excited and hopeful for Iran to proud of (the) young generation especially women standing up against the dictatorship, demanding their own human rights,” Nazanin said. “On the other hand, I was so sad to be witness of how they beating up people, shooting and I was worried and scared not only for myself but for all young brave people.”

Out of 290 MPs in Iran, 227 of them recently called on the judiciary to issue death sentences to all imprisoned protesters.

At least five protestors have already been sentenced to death. The United Nations said nearly 15,000 protestors are imprisoned and at least 300 killed – including nine-year-old Kian Pirfalak, killed in the crackdown.

View image in full screen

Kian Pirfalak. @1500Tasvir

While people await their death sentences, Zohreh Elahian and Kazem Gharibabadi, two of the MPs who voted in favour of calling for the execution of protesters, travelled to New York to attend UN General Assembly’s meetings.

Nazanin feared for her life travelling back to Canada.

She was anxious at the airport in Iran, terrified a security officer at the airport would arrest her. She erased all photos and videos from her cellphone and said she prepared herself for the worst-case scenario.

READ MORE: Crackdown in Kurdish region of Iran hits home for Port Moody, B.C. woman

Four decades ago, Nazanin’s cousin, a political prisoner, was executed by the Islamic Republic.

Nazanin said she waited nearly 44 years for that moment to stand up against the regime, and did so in honour of her late cousin.

She said she had tears in her eyes taking to the streets.

“It was very emotional time, I can’t explain with many words. We were waiting 44 years for that moment and I was there and that made me very happy.”

A moment she is hopeful is on the road to a revolution.

Trudeau joins Canadian demonstrators in support of Iran protests

Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks at protest in support of freedom for women in Iran October 29, 2022 in Ottawa, Canada. Iran has been rocked by protests since 22-year-old Mahsa Amini's death on September 16, three days after she was arrested. (AFP)

AFP
Published: 30 October ,2022: 

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau marched with protesters in the Canadian capital of Ottawa Saturday in support of demonstrations that have swept Iran for more than 40 days.

“The women in Iran, daughters and the grandmothers and the allies... they are not forgotten,” Trudeau said, standing in front of a white banner covered with dozens of red hand prints.

Iran has been gripped by six weeks of protests that erupted when Mahsa Amini, 22, died in custody after her arrest for an alleged breach of Iran’s strict dress rules for women.

“We will stand with you. I’ll march with you, I will hold hands with you. We will continue to stand with this beautiful community,” Trudeau said, before ending his speech by shouting Persian slogans, his fist raised.

The prime minister’s wife, Sophie Gregoire Trudeau, also joined the protest, saying, “I stand with you because when one woman’s right is being denied, it is a sign of disrespect for all women.”

“And we will leave no sister behind.”

Trudeau highlighted several rounds of sanctions imposed by the Canadian government against senior Iranian officials over the last month, levied due to the regime’s “gross and systematic human rights violations.”

Amini supporters also attended rallies in other Canadian cities, including Vancouver, Montreal and Toronto, where marchers formed human chains.

And thousands also protested Saturday in Paris and throughout France.

US to put United Nations focus on Iran protests

Protesters march in solidarity with protesters in Iran on the National Mall in Washington, DC, on October 22, 2022. (AFP)

Reuters
Published: 28 October ,2022:

The United States will next week put the United Nations spotlight on protests in Iran sparked by the death of a young woman in police custody and look for ways to promote credible, independent investigations into Iranian human rights abuses.

The United States and Albania will hold an informal UN Security Council gathering on Wednesday, according to a note outlining the event, seen by Reuters. Iranian Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi and Iranian-born actress and activist Nazanin Boniadi are set to brief.

“The meeting will highlight the ongoing repression of women and girls and members of religious and ethnic minority groups in Iran,” the note said. “It will identify opportunities to promote credible, independent investigations into the Iranian government’s human rights violations and abuses.”

Independent UN investigator on human rights in Iran, Javaid Rehman, is also due to address the meeting, which can be attended by other UN member states and rights groups.

Iran has been gripped by protests since the death of 22-year-old Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini in police custody last month. The unrest has turned into a popular revolt by Iranians from all layers of society, posing one of the boldest challenges to the clerical leadership since the 1979 revolution.

Iran has blamed its foreign enemies and their agents for the unrest.

“The meeting will underscore ongoing unlawful use of force against protesters and the Iranian regime’s pursuit of human rights defenders and dissidents abroad to abduct or assassinate them in contravention of international law,” read the note about the planned meeting.

Rights groups have said at least 250 protesters have been killed and thousands arrested across the country. Women have played a prominent part in the protests, removing and burning veils. The deaths of several teenage girls reportedly killed during protests have fueled more anger.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called on Iranian security forces to refrain from unnecessary or disproportionate force against protesters and appealed to all to exercise restraint and avoid further escalation.

Guterres has also called for a investigation of Amini’s death by an “independent competent authority.”

Iran on Fire: Women Forcing Change


After the news of Amini's death emerged on social media of her lying in a Tehran hospital in a coma, people throughout the country became enraged.

October 21, 2022 by Broad Agenda 


By Vrinda Narain and Fatemeh Sadeghi

On Sept. 16, 2022, Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian woman, died in Tehran, Iran, while in police custody. Amini was arrested by the Guidance Patrol, the morality squad of the Law Enforcement Command of the Islamic Republic of Iran that oversees public implementation of hijab regulations, for not wearing a hijab properly.

Soon after the news of her death was broadcast and a photograph emerged on social media of her lying in a Tehran hospital in a coma, people throughout the country became enraged.

Amini’s death starkly illustrated the systematic violence of police and highlighted particularly the brutality of the regime towards women and minorities. She was Kurdish, a member of one of the most oppressed minority ethnic groups in Iran.

All Iranian women who are routinely humiliated because of their gender can empathize with her. But Kurds and Kurdish women in particular understood the political message of her death at the hands of police and the state’s subsequent violent response to the protests.

The huge wave of protests in Iran following Amini’s death represents a historic moment in Iran. People have taken to the streets shouting slogans against the compulsory hijab and denouncing Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khamenei.

Protests have raged in 31 provinces, including Kurdistan and Tehran as well as cities such as Rasht, Isfahan and Qom, among Iran’s most conservative communities. Dozens of people have been killed by security forces and hundreds more have been arrested.

The Girls of Revolution Street

Although the current uprising may seem unprecedented, it is in fact part of a deep-rooted and longstanding resistance movement by women in Iran.

In what is widely seen as a punishment to the hundreds of women who participated in the anti-regime protests leading to the Iranian Revolution of 1979, the hijab became compulsory two years later in 1981.

Consequently, publicly removing hijabs became a challenge to the regime in Iran.

Decades later, in 2017, Vida Movahed climbed onto a platform on Enghelab (Revolution) Street in the centre of Tehran, took off her headscarf and waved it in the air as a sign of opposition to compulsory hijab.

She was followed by other women and the movement quickly became known as The Girls of Revolution Street or Dokhtaran-e Khiaban-e Enghelab.

The Girls of Revolution Street represented a fundamental challenge by younger women to Iran’s compulsory veiling laws. Their actions resulted in an increase in the number of women who braved the streets without hijab in defiance of the state.

Unsurprisingly, when religious hardliner Ebrahim Raisi became president in the contested 2020 election, the message was clear: Women would be further oppressed.
Zan, Zendegi, Azadi: Woman, life, freedom

This recent uprising is a link in a chain of protests that together have the potential to bring about fundamental change in Iran.

It began with the pro-democracy Green Movement in 2009 followed by popular uprisings in 2018 and 2019. The Green Movement was largely peaceful, but the uprisings grew increasingly more confrontational with each wave of repression.

Women have been in the lead in all these protests, posing a real challenge to the regime. They’re the leaders of transformative change, the vanguard of a potential revolution, challenging the legitimacy of the current government..

The current protests are focused on two main demands: dignity and freedom. Both have been absent from political life in Iran, and both have a prominent presence in almost all slogans during this uprising, particularly “Woman, Life, Freedom.”

The recent uprising makes it clear that the demand for radical change in Iran today is strong and significant.

With every wave of protest, the desire for freedom gets stronger, the voices get louder and success is within reach. Once again, Iranian women are at the forefront of demanding transformative change.

With the strong support this time of men, political and ethnic minorities and other disenfranchised groups, they may be leading their country closer to a freer and more just society.

—

This post was previously published on Broad Agenda.

SOLIDARITY IS INTERSECTIONALITY

Greta Thunberg visits Westminster sit-in protest for jailed British-Egyptian Alaa Abdel-Fattah

The New Arab Staff
30 October, 2022

Climate icon Greta Thunberg lent her support for Alaa Abdel-Fattah and his sisters, who are pushing for him to be released before the COP27 summit begins in Egypt on 6 November


Teen climate activist Greta Thunberg lent her support to the Westminster sit-in [Getty]

Youth climate activist Greta Thunberg has made a surprise visit to London’s solidarity sit-in for writer and activist Alaa Abdel-Fattah, who is being imprisoned by Egypt.

Alaa’s sister Sanaa Seif began her sit-in protest outside the UK’s Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office almost two weeks ago.

Seif is calling on UK Foreign Minister James Cleverly to secure the release of her brother, who holds British citizenship, after 200 days of hunger strike and years of incarceration.

Thunberg lent her support for Alaa and his sisters, who are pushing for him to be released before the COP27 summit begins in Egypt on 6 November.

She also wrote in the sit-in visitors' book, which bears the names of David Lammy MP, Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, Layla Moran MP and many others who have visited the protest site.

"It was deeply moving to have @GretaThunberg's solidarity at the #FreeAlaa sit-in today. A big thank you," tweeted the campaign.

"For #COP27 not to greenwash Egypt's human rights abuses, prisoners of conscience must be released now."



Greta Thunberg, who rose to international acclaim after going on strike at her Swedish school in protest against the climate crisis, is in the UK for the global launch of her new publication, 'The Climate Book'.

The international climate meet will be held in the resort city of Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, from next week.

Egyptian activists have argued that real action on the climate can only be taken if activists, journalists, scientists and others like Alaa Abdel-Fattah are free to put pressure on their governments, without fear of imprisonment and repression.

CANADA WIDE SOLIDARITY PROTESTS

 'We are here to be their voice': Thousands rally in Toronto in support of Iranian protesters

Thousands attend 'The Time Has Come' rally


Tens of thousands of people gathered in Toronto for a rally in support of Iranian protesters who are facing violent government crackdown.

Toronto rally held in support of Iran protesters


Thousands march through the streets of downtown in solidarity with protesters in Iran demanding human rights and democracy.

CP24.com, Staff
Published Saturday, October 22, 2022 

Thousands of people marched through the streets of downtown Toronto on Saturday afternoon in solidarity with protesters in Iran who have been subjected to a violent government crackdown.

They gathered at Queen's Park at around 2 p.m. and subsequently made their way to Nathan Phillips Square, chanting and carrying flags and signs that included "Stand with the people of Iran," "Say no to dictatorship in Iran," "Say Her Name, Mahsa Amini," and "Women, Life, Freedom."

Called "The Time Has Come," the rally organized by the International Centre for Human Rights is one of the several that took place worldwide on Saturday. Similar demonstrations were held in U.S. and European cities condemning the actions of the Iranian government.

PHOTO

Thousands gather at Queen's Park for 'The Time Has Come' rally in support of Iranian protesters. (Patrick Darrah/CTV News)

Protests have erupted across the Middle Eastern country following the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who was taken into custody by Iran's morality police after she allegedly wore her mandatory Islamic headscarf too loose.

According to several human rights groups, Iran's security forces have killed 200 people while dispersing demonstrations using live ammunition and tear gas.

"We are here in solidarity with brave Iranian women. They are on the streets and protesting against the regime. We are here to be their voice," said Mehrzad Zarei, one of the organizers of the Toronto rally.

"We are here to say the Islamic regime must go."

Zarei's son was one of the 176 people killed on board the Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 when it was struck by surface-to-air missile fired by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, a branch of Iran's military.

He said the thousands who attended the rally are sending a strong message to women back in Iran that they are not alone in their fight.

"We are standing with them. We will do everything in our power to be their voice."

Earlier this month, a similar rally was held in Richmond Hill that approximately more than 50,000 people attended.

The violent crackdown on protesters has prompted Ottawa to bar more than half of the Revolutionary Guard from entering the country and impose restrictions on several Iranian officials.

Kimia Bakhshi echoed the sentiments of many people who attended the rally – she wants to be a voice for the people back in Iran who are dying while fighting for their freedom.

"We escaped our country. We came to a better place to be their voice to fight for them -- people who are suppressed in Iran, people who go to prison, people who die only because they're talking about their rights," Bakhshi said.

Her fellow demonstrator, who has family in Iran and fears for their safety, said she was at the rally to add her voice and help those being persecuted in her country.

"Everyone I love is being killed, slaughtered by the government in the streets… I have to be their voice because I had the chance to escape, but they don't have that chance," she said.

She believes a revolution in Iran is the only way to bring change.

"The government does not have the right to kill our teenagers, our girls, our boys, our kids, everyone," she said.

- with files from The Associated Press      

Thousands march through Toronto for women's rights in Iran

“I say to our politicians: take the side of humanity": demonstrator Reza who hopes Canada further punishes Iran

Author of the article:

Scott Laurie

Publishing date:

Oct 22, 2022  •

Thousands of people took the streets of downtown Toronto to protest the Iranian regime on Saturday, Oct. 22, 2022. PHOTO BY SCOTT LAURIE /Toronto Sun/Postmedia Network

Article content

A massive demonstration – appearing to number in the thousands – calling for an end to the Islamic regime in Iran took place in downtown Toronto Saturday.

“We didn’t expect this number of people. But the people are just trying to show to the world their hatred of the Islamic regime in Iran,” said a woman named Marges, who did not wish to share her last name.

She painted her hands red – a symbol, she said, of the blood spilled daily by the Iranian regime.

“The government in Iran is trying to kill and arrest demonstrators unfortunately,” she said, as the crowd chanted for women’s rights and for an end to the Islamic government.

The march from Queen’s Park to Nathan Phillips Square was one of several held around the world – including in Germany and in Iran itself.

Marges painted her hands red, to symbolize the blood spilled daily by the Iranian regime, as she attended a massive rally in downtown Toronto on Saturday, Oct. 22, 2022. PHOTO BY SCOTT LAURIE /Toronto Sun/Postmedia Network

Anti-government protests were sparked in Iran on Sept. 17 at the funeral of Mahsa Amini, 22, in her Kurdish town of Saqez.

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Amini was arrested in Tehran on Sept. 13 by its “morality police” for wearing “inappropriate attire.”

She died three days later at a Tehran hospital.

A state coroner’s report said Amini died from pre-existing medical conditions.

A woman holds a placard with a picture of Iranian Mahsa Amini as she attends a protest against her death, in Berlin, Germany, Wednesday, Sept. 28, 2022. PHOTO BY MARKUS SCHREIBER /THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Her family holds the police responsible for her death, saying doctors believe she was beaten while in custody.

The demonstrations have become the biggest challenge to Iran’s clerical leaders in recent years, with protesters calling for the downfall of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Toronto friends Reza, from Iran, and Tahra, from Afghanistan, attended Saturday’s rally.

“I came today to support Iranian people because I am from Afghanistan,” said Tahra. “If change comes to Iran, I think it will affect Afghanistan.”

Reza said he was impressed with the turnout and hopes it sends a signal to Western governments to further punish the Iranian government.

“I say to our politicians: take the side of humanity,” said Reza, who has two sisters still living in Iran. “Of course we are all worried about them.”

slaurie@postmedia.com

Images of in Photos Global Day Of Action for Iran Rally in Toronto

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Global Day of Action for Iran: Rally in Support of Iranian People

 Manitoba

University students in Winnipeg host protest against Iranian regime

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Around 100 people gathered at The Forks on Saturday

CBC News · Posted: Oct 22, 2022 

Around 100 people gathered at the Canadian Museum For Human Rights on Saturday as part of ongoing international protests against the Iranian regime. (Donna Lee/CBC)

The University of Manitoba Iranian Students' Association hosted a rally outside the Canadian Museum For Human Rights in Winnipeg on Saturday to protest the current Iranian government regime.

"This movement is not against Islam, this movement is not an Islamophobic movement," said association president Pouya Farokhzad, who was involved in organizing the rally.

"We are against a regime that uses Islam to oppress people."

At least 100 people attended Saturday's rally, which coincided with a similar event in Berlin and rallies elsewhere in Canada and around the world.

The movement was sparked after the in-custody death of 22-year-old Masha Amini, who had been detained in Tehran for allegedly wearing her headscarf inappropriately. 

Head scarves for women in Iran — regardless of creed — have been mandatory as per the country's strict dress code enforced since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

• Protests rage in Iran's southeast, police arrest 57 they describe as 'rioters'

• She was Iran's women's minister before the 1979 revolution. Now she's watching protests in exile

• Iran tries to deflect protests over Mahsa Amini by focusing on Kurds

In Berlin, nearly 40,000 people gathered turned out to show solidarity for the women and activists leading the movement for the past few weeks in Iran.

The protests in Germany's capital, organized by the Woman* Life Freedom Collective, began at the Victory Column in Berlin's Tiergarten park and continued as a march through central Berlin.

Some demonstrators there said they had come from elsewhere in Germany and other European countries to show their support.

Iran's nationwide anti-government protest movement first focused on the country's mandatory hijab covering for women following Amini's death on Sept. 16.

Saturday's rally took place outside the Canadian Museum for Human Rights in Winnipeg. (Donna Lee/CBC)

The demonstrations there have since transformed into the greatest challenge to the Islamic Republic since the 2009 Green Movement over disputed elections.

In Tehran on Saturday, more anti-government protests took place at several universities.

Members of the Iranian community in Manitoba have held a number of rallies against the Iranian regime in the weeks following Amini's death.

• Calls for justice grow in Manitoba over in-custody death of Mahsa Amini in Iran

• Iran sees renewed protests over Mahsa Amini death amid 'major' internet disruption

"The thing that we are looking for is a regime change … basically every kind of human rights is under attack right now in Iran," Farokhzad said.

University of Winnipeg student Ershiya Bagheri, who was also involved in organizing Saturday's rally, recently moved to Canada from Iran and has been unable to communicate with friends and family back home as internet services have been disrupted.

Bagheri has found support in Winnipeg's Iranian community, and by getting involved in local protests.

"I was feeling that Iranian diasporas need to do something so that the world outside Iran can also hear us and support us," she said.

"I want to continue fighting so that everyone can hear the women of Iran."

With files from Donna Lee and The Associated Press

PEI

Charlottetown protest shows support for women in Iran

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Demonstration one of many around the world since death of Mahsa Amini

CBC News · Posted: Oct 22, 2022 

Protesters did not want to go on camera for fear of repercussions in Iran. (Tony Davis/CBC)

Dozens of people gathered in downtown Charlottetown on Saturday to speak out against women's rights issues in Iran.

Protests have been happening in Iran and around following the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini on Sept. 16. 

Amini died following her arrest by Iran's morality police in Tehran for allegedly wearing her mandatory headscarf too loosely, which would violate the country's strict dress code enforced since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. 

None of the protesters in Charlottetown felt safe to speak to CBC P.E.I. on camera, fearing repercussions for loved ones in Iran. CBC is protecting their identity by not showing photos of their faces.

A poster of Mahsa Amini is seen outside Mackenzie Theatre in Charlottetown. Amini died Sept. 16 while in custody of Iran's morality police. (Tony Davis/CBC)

• Protests rage in Iran's southeast, police arrest 57 they describe as 'rioters'

Protesters held signs with messages of freedom and support for women and people from the LGBTQ community. They said it is their duty to keep the conversation going for those who can't speak out.

A sign at the Charlottetown cenotaph shows a message for women, life and freedom. (Tony Davis/CBC)

‘Say no to gender segregation’: Halifax rally

 held in solidarity with Iranians

By Karla Renić Global News
Posted October 22, 2022 

Nearly 200 people gathered on the Halifax waterfront on Saturday in solidarity with Iranians who are protesting their government regime's ongoing oppression of women.

Nearly 200 people gathered on the Halifax waterfront on Saturday in solidarity with Iranians who are protesting their government regime’s ongoing oppression of women.

Speaker Atefah Tabash said at the rally they ask the Canadian government to ensure that no person affiliated with Iran’s regime benefits from the immigration system.

“We love our Canada, we want it to stay safe,” the speaker said.

“We urge the government to draft practical solutions to this problem, and help the hardworking Iranian community to be safe in Canada.”

It’s been five weeks since the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish-Iranian woman who was captured for not wearing her hijab properly, as dictated by the country’s regime. She died after falling into a coma while in the custody of Iran’s “morality police” on Sept. 16. Her death has caused many to take to the street as citizens call for democracy and an overthrow of the government.

READ MORE: New protests erupt in Iranian city that was scene of bloody crackdown

Witnesses said antigovernment protests erupted at several universities in Tehran amid heavy security on Saturday as the world observed a Global Day of Action. Protests were held in several cities across Canada.

A rally in solidarity with Iranians was held in Halifax on Oct. 22, 2022.

 Amber Fryday / Global News

Halifax West Member of Parliament Lena Diab also attended Saturday’s rally on the waterfront, saying the federal government supports Iranian protestors.

“My heart is with you, and all of your friends, families and loved ones — especially those who are still in Iran,” said Diab.

“The outrageous violence being perpetrated during this crackdown is disgusting and it must stop.”

Diab said she has heard stories from Iranians across the province and in Ottawa about the brutality towards those who demand basic rights.

“I’ve heard that even in Halifax we must do more to stop the Iranian regime’s global campaign of intimidation,” she said.

Diab said Canada’s government is using its voice on the international stage to ensure countries are in sync with one common goal: “to ban the (Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps) from coming to Canada and other countries.”

READ MORE: Canada announces new Iran sanctions amid protests over Mahsa Amini death

Canada’s Minister of Immigration and Citizenship Sean Fraser said at the rally there are half a million Iranians in Canada, and “it’s time that we show we’re standing alongside them, not just with our words.”

Fraser said there a number of sanctions have been lobbied against officials within the Iranian regime.

“The immigration measures we put in place do not just apply to the IRGC, but senior officials across every aspect of the regime, who will no longer be able to come to Canada,” Fraser said.

“Those who may enjoy their status here now, we are not afraid to revoke it, to remove them if need be.”

Fraser said the government will do anything it can “to hold the regime accountable,” and will ensure the safety of those who are speaking against it in Canada.

Speaker Flora Riyahi told the Halifax crowd they are gathered there to “say ‘no'” to gender segregation.

“‘No’ to a regime that does not respect the demand of its people; ‘no’ to violently crashing legitimate protests; ‘no’ to unexplained deaths at custody.”

Riyahi said, “‘yes’ to hope.”

— With files from Heidi Lee and The Associated Press.

'Women, life, freedom': Hundreds attend Halifax protest in support of Iranians

Hafsa Arif
CTVNewsAtlantic.ca Video Journalist

Published Oct. 22, 2022 

More than a hundred people gathered at the Halifax waterfront Saturday in part of the many protests happening across Canada in support of Iranians.

Crowds chanted 'women, life, freedom' as they voice concerns for Iranians while also condemning the Iranian government.

"They are chanting down with the dictator, down with the Islamic Republic of Iran. They’re chanting for freedom and democracy. Here in Canada, what we’re trying to do is pressure our elected officials," said Nazanin Afshin-Jam Mackay, who is an advocate.

While the Canadian government has applied sanction against the Iranian regime officials, protestors say they want more.

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"We are asking to add the IRGC entity into the terrorist group and not to let them into the country. For those that are in the country, we want them to get out," said Ateefeh Tabesh, one of the organizers of the protest.

According to Iran’s Human Rights Activist News Agency, 12,000 people have been arrested since the protests began last month. Ottawa says it will be taking action.

"The immigrations measures that we put in place do not just apply to the IRGC, but also the senior officials across every aspect of the regime who will no longer be able to come to Canada. Those who may enjoy the status here now, we are not afraid to revoke it and to removed them if need be," said Sean Fraser, Minister of Immigration.

Many protestors say they are risking their safety, as well as the safety of their families back home by attending the protest.

"Their information is being shared with regime officials and from there, these officials harass the families of those that still have family there," said Afshin-Jam Mackay.

A global protest in support of Iranians is scheduled to take place next week.

Protests for women’s right in Iran at Saskatchewan legislature

By Andrew Benson Global News
Updated October 23, 2022


Over 100 community members gathered outside the Saskatchewan Legislative Building Saturday and showed their support for justice and human rights in the Iranian culture.

As protests rage in Iran for women’s rights, Regina residents are doing their part to show support.

Over 100 community members gathered outside the Saskatchewan Legislative Building Saturday to rally for justice, women’s rights and human rights in Iran.

“Our brothers and sisters back home are fighting whole-heartedly with bare hands against the Islamic regime,” said Shiva Souri, an Iranian student who has been living in Canada for the last year and a half.

“This is the only thing we can do as an outside country because we do have the privilege to speak with our voices and talk on their behalf and ask people who have the power to tell the world what is happening in Iran.”

Over a hundred people attended the protest on Saturday, Oct. 22 at the Saskatchewan legislative building. Troy Charles / Global News

Iranians have been actively protesting the Islamic regime for over month now and during this time, the regime has shut down the internet in the entire country, arrested protestors, and killed hundreds of people, some as young as 15-years-old.

“I might put my family in danger because we have attended a protest,” when talking about the hold the regime has not just in Iran, but out of the country as well,” said Souri. “We are under pressure, we are buckled up and under stress every single morning that we wake up.”

While anger against the regime was strong for Souri this weekend, she also feels and immense amount of pride.

“I feel not helpless anymore,” she said. “I feel like I have a mountain behind me and each one of us feels the same. Our voicees will make action.”

For Zahra Mansoureh Darzi, an Iranian woman who has been in Canada for 31 years, it’s hard for people from Canada to fully understand the control the regime has on Iranian people, but protests like today’s start to slowly educate people.

“If you want to take your dog outside, you don’t have that freedom,” Darzi said. “If I want to dance or I want to sing… that is not permitted under the Islamic regime. So many small things beyond our imagination here that we can’t believe.”

Darzi’s husband was executed in 1998 when she was just two months’ pregnant, after he spoke against the regime sending 15-year-olds into war. It is something on the top of her mind throughout the protest.

“He was only asking for freedom and justice. They killed him because they were afraid of the truth coming out. I can’t even express my feeling in that moment.”

For both Darzi and Souri, the final sentiment about what needs to happen was the same.

“The one and only solution is revolution,” Souri said.

'Once people are willing to give up their lives to make change, I think we all need to support that': London rally to support reforms in Iran

Gerry Dewan
CTV News London Reporter
Published Oct. 22, 2022 

Protestors opposing the Iranian government gathered in London’s Victoria Park Saturday afternoon, continuing the calls for reform in the Islamic republic.

Organizers of the rally say it's vital to keep the pressure on the government.

About 300 people gathered at the entrance to park, filling the air with chants, including "women, life, freedom" and "down with dictators."

One organizer expected the gathering to be larger and worries there's a narrative being spread that the protests are opposing Islam.

"This has nothing to do with religion. This has nothing to do with what you believe. This has nothing to with if you want to wear a hijab or if you don't want to wear a hijab," says Sara. Like many demonstrators who have family in Iran, she only uses her first name for fear of reprisals. She says the protests are about basic human rights, "This has more to it. This about that of your part of the LGBTQ community, if you're gay, you're lesbian, you're a bisexual. Like, as a woman, your voice won't count."

Protests started in Iran hours after a 22-year-old woman died after being taken into custody by Iran's so-called morality police.

It's been more than a month since Mahsa Amini lost her life and since that time there have been persistent protests, both in Iran and around the world."

"I have experienced everything there and I can very well feel this could happen to me," says Pari. She left Iran when she was 25. She says Amini's death had a profound effect on her bringing back to mind the fear and anxiety she lived with, "The moment you go out of your house anything could happen to you because of the way you are dressed."

Speaking of her feelings when she thinks of Amini’s death she says, "First you are full of sorrow, but then you are full of rage."

Canadian educator Greg Janes has been to the Middle East but never to Iran. He says watching citizens of that country take a stand against oppression is what brought him out to the demonstration at Victoria Park, "It's been going on for a month and people are still going out. Once people are willing to give up their lives to make change, I think we all need to support that."

London Rally - Saturday October 22, 2022 (Gerry Dewan/CTV News London)

Hundreds rally in support of Iranian protesters in downtown Kitchener


Hannah Schmidt
CTV News Kitchener Videographer
Published Oct. 22, 2022 

Iranian-Canadians in Waterloo region are rallying in support of protests in Iran.

The protests were sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini while she was detained by the country’s morality police for allegedly wearing her headscarf too loosely.

From 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, an event dubbed Freedom Rally For Iran was held in downtown Kitchener. More than 400 people attended.

One speaker said the event is part of an international call to action to bring the community together and show loved ones in Iran they have support.

“Everybody is standing together and stating that they're tired of this oppressive regime. They have not been able to do anything economically or socially for the people of Iran for the past 40 years and they need to go. That's the message," said rally speaker Pooneh Bolourchi.

Bolourchi said there are plans for continued demonstrations of support throughout the region, meant to give a voice to those who may not be able to speak out.

“We're going to continue to support and be the voice of voiceless people in Iran. They're honestly walking on the streets, bare-handed and facing war weapons, and the Islamic regime and their police are just opening fire on people."

Rally participants gathered at Kitchener City Hall and then made their way to Victoria Park in solidarity with those protesting Amini’s death. Rally-goers were seen carrying signs reading “Women, Life, Freedom,” as well as posters of Amini.

Amini died in hospital on Sept. 17 and protests in support of her have followed – first in Iran and then globally.

Around 50,000 people attended a rally in Toronto earlier this month. Another took place in the city Saturday.