ACTIVISM

Jina Mahsa Amini

Victim

The death on September 16, 2022 in a Tehran hospital of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini – given the Kurdish name “Jina” at birth – shocked the world and galvanized ordinary Iranians into a protest movement that threatens the very foundations of the Islamic Republic. Amini was detained by the regime’s feared “Morality Police” for allegedly not wearing her hijab, the headscarf all women in Iran are compelled to wear, in the required fashion. While in police custody, she was viciously beaten and later died in hospital of a cerebral hemorrhage. As news of her death spread, furious protests broke out in the Kurdish region where Amini was born and across the country. Attempts by the Iranian authorities to portray Amini’s death as the result of brain surgery she had as a child were roundly rejected, as international leaders expressed disgust at the manner of her death and Iranians adopted her as a symbol of their “Women, Life, Freedom” revolution. (Photo: Majid Asgaripour / WANA via Reuters)