Results: Why What Is Happening In Iran Right Now IS A Global Concern

A 22-year-old Iranian Kurdish woman, Mahsa Amini, died in hospital last Friday, after spending three days in a coma. She was with her brother in Tehran when she was arrested by morality police, who accused her of breaking the law requiring women to cover their hair with a hijab, or headscarf, and their arms and legs with loose clothing. She was taken away in a police van, where she was severely beaten, and fell into the coma shortly after collapsing at a detention centre. Iran's streets were flooded by woman and men protesting the death, many of the woman opening defying the compulsory hijab law by exposing their hair and arms. In Tehran, videos posted online showed women taking off their headscarves and shouting "death to the dictator" - a chant often used in reference to the Supreme Leader. Others shouted "justice, liberty, no to mandatory hijab". Are you aware of what is happening right now in Iran?

So, why should you care, and more to the point, what can you do? You should care because woman's rights have been in the forefront of what has been happening in Iran for the last few years. In 2014, Iranian women began sharing photos and videos of themselves publicly flouting the hijab laws as part of an online protest campaign called "My Stealthy Freedom". It has since inspired other movements, including "White Wednesdays" and "Girls of Revolution Street". But all over the world, very little has been posted about this. When George Floyd was killed by police, social media was flooded by posts condemning the killing, and demanding justice, not just in the U.S., but all over the world. What is happening in Iran is every bit as horrific, yet, except for Iranian human rights groups, not a word. Many of you may not even be aware that thousands of women each year are arrested for breaking the compulsory hijab law, some even killed. Are you aware of this?

What can you do? The United States placed the IRGC (Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps) on its "Foreign Terrorist Organizations" list in 2019. However, there has been pressure on President Biden to remove them from the list. Canada has yet to sanction the IRGC. In 2012, Canada did sanction the Quds Force, the IRGC's foreign operations arm, which provides military and economic support to Iran's proxies in Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Yemen, and elsewhere in the region. Since then, however, Prime Minister Trudeau has ignored repeated calls by Canadian parliamentarians – including a 2018 resolution that passed the House of Commons overwhelmingly – to designate the IRGC in its entirety. Writing letters, making phone calls and putting pressure on both governments to make sure the IRGC either stays on the list, or gets put on the list, and then the necessary sanctions and actions be taken against them for human rights violations. Posting outrage on what is happening now, and actually for the last years, will make more people aware. Will you take any steps to protect women's rights in Iran (and all over the world)?

The compulsory hijab rule may only be one of the many violations against women but it is a very important one. Women who choose to wear the hijab do so for many reasons. They choose to do so. But to mandate the hijab, and to punish any violation with arrests, prison, beating and even death -- that is barbaric, inhumane and these women's rights need to be protected. Can you see the difference between wearing the hijab and mandating the hijab?