Flag of Honour: Iranian women hoist chopped hair on stick as most powerful symbol of dissent
Picture speaks louder than words and an image that is gradually getting viral on social media is a proof to it. Massive protests are being carried out in Iran over the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini following her detention by country’s morality police. In rage over the incident, female agitators cut their hair and burnt hijabs to express their anger over veiling of women.
In Iran, women in anger are cutting their hair and posting their videos on social media, protesting against the country’s strict “hijab rules”.
For the unversed, under Iran’s sharia (Islamic) law, imposed after the 1979 revolution, it is mandatory for women to cover their hair and wear long, loose-fitting clothes to disguise their figures.
Those violating the law have faced public rebuke and some of them have been arrested while fines have been slapped on others.
Talking about her plight, common to other women in Iran, journalist and activist from the country Masih Alinejad said if females don’t cover their hair, they are not allowed to go to school or get a job. “We are fed up with this gender apartheid regime,” she added.
Alinejad also shared a compilation of women cutting their hair in Iran.
When did Mahsa Amini die?
Mahsa Amini was on a visit to Tehran with her family in western Kurdish region when she was detained on 13 September by Iran’s mortality police. She collapsed at the police station and died three days later.
Why did police detain Mahsa Amini?
According to a report by news agency The Associated Press, police detained Amini over wearing her hijab “too loosely”.
The police, meanwhile, deny Amini was mistreated and said that she died of a heart attack.
Family of Amini said that she had no history of heart trouble. They even claimed that they were prevented from seeing their daughter’s body before she was buried.
Why women in Iran are protesting?
Massive protests erupted in Iran, after Amini’s funeral in the Kurdish city of Saqez on Saturday, 17 September, and quickly spread to other parts of the nation, including Tehran.
Some of female agitators, who took to street in Iran, tore off their hijab, demonstratively twirling them in the air. Few others cut off her hair in a show of protest.
In some places, protesters were chased and beaten with clubs by the motorcycle-riding Basij, a paramilitary force of mostly young volunteers.
