Protests in Iran
Past Event
Earlier this month Mahsa Amini, a twenty-two year old woman from Saqqez, Iran, died in custody after her arrest by a special unit of Iran’s security services that enforces Iran’s strict dress codes for women. Amini’s death has sparked protests over compulsory veiling and several days of significant unrest throughout Iran. Acting U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Nada Al-Nashif stated, “Mahsa Amini’s tragic death and allegations of torture and ill-treatment must be promptly, impartially and effectively investigated by an independent competent authority, that ensures, in particular, that her family has access to justice and truth.” The developments occurred on the eve of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi’s scheduled speech at the United Nations General Assembly.
On September 22, the Foreign Policy program at Brookings hosted a webinar featuring Vice President and Director Suzanne Maloney in conversation with journalist and filmmaker Maziar Bahari, the author of “Then They Came for Me”, which was the basis for the 2014 film “Rosewater.” Bahari is also the founder of IranWire, which has been a vital conduit for Iranian citizen journalists. In addition to Maloney and Bahari, the event also featured IranWire journalist Aida Ghajar, who was the first to report on Amini’s death, and additional voices from experts in Iran.
Viewers submitted questions by emailing events@brookings.edu or on Twitter using the hashtag #MahsaAmini.
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[Targeting Rouhani’s brother] is a very convenient way to cause pain to the family without necessarily provoking a crisis of office. The general message that the rest of the system is trying to send to Rouhani is not to get too far ahead of himself, to not allow his decisive election victory to give him illusions of greater autonomy and authority than his position actually has.
There's often a temptation to look for some kind of logic [in the arrests of students and dual nationals in Iran]... I think that this particular case [of Xiyue Wang] highlights the fact that the logic is simply the paranoia of the Islamic Republic—its judiciary and its security services in particular.