Mahsa Amini and Theocracy
Let’s not sugarcoat nor pretend anything else happened; Mahsa Amini was murdered. Plain and simple.
There’s no use giving the full, gruesome details as to what happened. The gist is this: Mahsa Amini, a Kurdish-Iranian woman, was arrested by Iran’s infamous ‘morality police’, for her hijab being too loosely worn. She was beaten, tortured, and who knows what else, before being taken into police custody, where she died a few days after he capture. She was only 22 years old.
Please allow this to sink for a moment. A 22 year old woman, with her whole life ahead of her, was arrested and killed over a loosely worn hijab.
The event itself seems to have galvanised women across Iran, with protests sparking across the country — including in Tehran — showing women burning their hijabs and religious dress, whilst also tearing down images of Ayatollahs Khomeini and Khamenei, as well as slain general Qassem Soleimani. The old Ayatollah Khomeini’s image, in particular, is practically god-like in Iran. Truly, these women risk their lives to express their anger, disgust, and exhaustion, over the repressive rules of Iran and what they’ve done to women like Mahsa Amini.
At the time of writing, 76 deaths have occurred during fierce government crackdowns on protestors, with the number surely to rise. I do not believe we will see the end of this.
You see, Sharia is the rule of Iran and countries like it. A strict, dogmatic, fundamentalist interpretation of the rules of Islam, applied and embedded into a country’s constitution and law. A rule of law that states women must be covered at all times, that members of the LGBT community must be put to death, that ethnic minorities should be oppressed as a ‘lesser’ race, and that the even the prophet or religion cannot be insulted lest you wish to be executed by the state. This is what they’re fighting against.
People can turn around and say, “it’s their country”, and this is true, but we are living in the modern world, and human rights are human rights. It doesn’t matter we or they live, any affront to human rights should be a cause for concern to all. That women in Saudi Arabia were only permitted to drive in 2018 is disgusting. That the Taliban has reset every right for women in Afghanistan since their violent takeover is disturbing. That Iran executes those who speak up against Islam is barbaric. That Qatar will not allow openly gay supporters at the World Cup this year is draconian — it is all a symbol of that which belongs nowhere in our world: theocracy.
Theocracy tells the people how to live according to religious texts. Dogmatism rules the day and tells every single person how to live, based on beliefs that are simply not compatible with our modern world. The modern world states that the freedom of expression, the freedom of religion, the emancipation of women and ethnic minorities, and basic human rights, should be subjected to all who live on this earth, nothing more or less. It is not up for negotiation or debate. Human beings have every right to live and express their beliefs how they so choose, without the enforcement or coercion from fundamentalist states.
The simple fact that Iran now chooses to blame the recent protests on the USA screams of the classic theocratic and dictatorial rhetoric: deflect, blame, and not assume responsibility. The Ayatollah and his minions know full well that the protests are not an American plot. The protests are a sign that the people have had enough. No longer can they live under a theocratic dictatorship, unable to express their own beliefs, opinions, or even dress how they so choose without the fear of being arrested and murdered.
Mahsa Amini was murdered at the hands of a theocratic dictatorship. This much is clear. What else is as clear is that this kind of state has no place in the modern world. Her tragic death seems to have brought this to light, so we can only support the Iranian people as they fight for their rights and for a better future. Strength to their brave souls, particularly the women, as they finally fight for their autonomy.
