Mahsa Amini protests
Civil unrest and protests against the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran associated with the death in police custody of Mahsa Amini (Persian: مهسا امینی) began on 16 September 2022 and carried on into 2023, but were said to have "dwindled"[15] or "died down"[16] by spring of 2023. As of September 2023, the "ruling elite" of Iran was said to remain "deeply entrenched" in power.[17] The protests were described as "unlike any the country had seen before",[18] the "biggest challenge" to the government,[19] and "most widespread revolt",[20] since the Islamic Revolution in 1979.
For a chronological guide, see Timeline of the Mahsa Amini protests.Mahsa Amini protests
16 September 2022 – 2023
- Death of Mahsa Amini
- Mandatory hijab law since 1979[2]
- Protests and crackdowns against the Iranian Democracy Movement, and Girls of Enghelab protests
- Human rights abuses against women and girls perpetrated by the Morality Police[2]
- Killing of hundreds of protesters
- Toppling of the Iranian regime[3]
- The protection of civil and political rights, including women's rights[4]
- Revoking mandatory religious requirements, such as the mandatory hijab law[2]
- Dissolution of the Morality Police[5]
- Prosecuting the killers of Mahsa Amini
- Police and government reforms
- Demonstrations
- Strikes
- Civil disobedience, including defiance of hijab laws
- Police brutality, hundreds of people killed and tens of thousands beaten and/or detained
- Growth of the Iranian democracy movement
- Unprecedented self unveiling, resignations, and vocal support from famous public figures
- Protest failure and crackdown by the government
At least 551 protesters including 68 minors killed (Iran Human Rights) as of 15 September 2023[9]
517 protesters including 70 minors killed, as well as 68 security force members (HRANA), as of 6 January 2023[10]
More than 300 protesters killed, including more than 30 minors, in 25 out of 31 provinces (United Nations), as of 22 November 2022[11]
200 killed (state media) as of 3 December 2022[12]
898+ as of 26 September 2022[13]
Mahsa Amini was arrested by the Guidance Patrol on 13 September 2022 for allegedly violating Iran's mandatory hijab law by wearing her hijab "improperly" while visiting Tehran from Saqqez. According to eyewitnesses, she was severely beaten by Guidance Patrol officers (this was denied by Iranian authorities).[21] She subsequently collapsed, was hospitalized and died three days later.[21] As the protests spread from Amini's hometown of Saqqez to other cities in the Iranian Kurdistan and throughout Iran, the government responded with widespread Internet blackouts, nationwide restrictions on social media usage,[22][23] tear gas and gunfire.[24][25][26]
Although the protests have not been as deadly as those in 2019 (when more than 1,500 were killed),[27] they have been "nationwide, spread across social classes, universities, the streets [and] schools".[19] At least 551 people, including 68 minors, had been killed as a result of the government's intervention in the protests, as of 15 September 2023.[note 1] Before February 2023 when most were pardoned,[16] an estimated 19,262 were arrested[note 2] across at least 134 cities and towns and 132 universities.[note 3][14][28]
Female protesters, including schoolchildren, have played a key role in the demonstrations. In addition to demands for increased rights for women, the protests have demanded the overthrow of the Islamic Republic, setting them apart from previous major protest movements in Iran, which have focused on election results or economic woes.[29]
The government's response to the protests and its "brutal and disproportionate use of force against peaceful protesters and children" was widely condemned,[30] but Supreme Leader of Iran Ayatollah Ali Khamenei dismissed the unrest as "riots" and part of a "hybrid war" against Iran created by foreign enemy states and dissidents abroad.[31][32][33]
On March 6, 2024, the UN accused Iran of coordinating crimes against humanity, which the government rejected.[34]
In an analysis by Emily Blout, she finds that the protest's lack of success in bringing about the changes it demanded were not so much a matter of its mistakes as the regime's success, and that the regime drew on the lessons from its overthrew of the Shah, specifically his mistakes in trying to prevent revolution.[137] Blout credits:
European Union: The European External Action Service (EEAS) condemned Amini's death in a statement and called for the Iranian government to "ensure that fundamental rights of its citizens are respected".[178] On 4 October, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said the EU was considering sanctions against Iran. By 7 October, Denmark, France, Germany, and Italy had called for EU sanctions against Iran.[179]
United Nations: UN Secretary-General António Guterres, on 27 September, issued a statement calling on Iranian security forces to "refrain from using unnecessary or disproportionate force".[180][181] Nada al-Nashif, the acting UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, expressed concern over Amini's death and Iranian authorities' response to the resulting protests.[182] Ravina Shamdasani, the spokesperson for the UN High Commission for Human Rights, urged Iran's clerical leadership several days later to "fully respect the rights to freedom of opinion, expression, peaceful assembly, and association". Shamdasani added that reports specify that "hundreds have also been arrested, including human rights defenders, lawyers, civil society activists, and at least 18 journalists", and "Thousands have joined anti-government demonstrations throughout the country over the past 11 days. Security forces have responded at times with live ammunition".[183] On 22 November the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights stated that more than 300 people including 40 minors have been killed so far by the Iranian government since the start of the protests; throughout the country and in 25 out of 31 of its provinces.[11]
