This September 16 marks one year since the death of Mahsa Aminia young woman detained in mid-September 2022 in Iran for allegedly wearing the veil incorrectlyanniversary that comes after months of violent repression and in the midst of a conservative onslaught that includes a debate over a draft law to toughen punishments against women who violate the dress code.

Amini, 22 years old and a member of the Iranian-Kurdish minority, died in custody and, although the Police stated that suffered a heart attack in a police stationcomplaints quickly arose about police violence and mistreatment, casting doubt on the version of the authorities, who assured that the autopsy ruled out this possibility.

The news about her hospitalization – her name in Kurdish was Jina – hit the media thanks to journalist Nilufar Hamedi, who published on social media on September 16 a photograph of the young woman’s parents in the hospital where Amini would die within hours. after. The reporter was later arrested for her work and accused along with fellow journalist Elahé Mohamadi of being a “foreign agent.”

Amini’s death unleashed a wave of mobilizations under the slogan ‘Woman, Life, Freedom‘ and headed mainly by women, which had its epicenter in Tehran but spread to other parts of the country, a sign of the growing popular unrest with the strict dress code imposed by the Islamic Republic since 1979which makes it mandatory for women to wear the hijab in public spaces, in one of the biggest challenges to the authorities in recent decades.

The arrival to the Presidency in 2021 of the ultra-conservative Ebrahim Raisi led to greater severity regarding respect for this type of restrictions, distancing himself from the position of his predecessor, Hassan Rohani, which has increased popular discontent, which adds to the growing criticism of the authorities for restrictions on the civil rights of women, opponents, activists and journalists, as well as the deepening of the economic crisis.

In response, the authorities resorted to brutal repression that left more than 500 deadaccording to non-governmental organizations, and which led to the opening of thousands of trials against participants in them, including death sentences and executions.

The ‘Moral Police’ returns to the fray

The extent of the protests and social demands, as well as the condemnations by the international community, led Iran to initially announce the withdrawal from the streets of the ‘Morality police‘, in charge of supervising the use of the ‘hijab’ and controlling behavior considered “immoral” by the Government.

However, given the reduction in the intensity of the mobilizations, largely due to repression, The agents of the ‘Moral Police’ were deployed again in mid-Julyin a sign that activists’ complaints about a cosmetic measure by Tehran in the face of pressure – including an announcement about the possible dissolution of the body – were on the right track.

Just a few weeks before this decision, the head of Iran’s judicial apparatus, Gholamhosein Mohseni-Ejeihad revealed that the courts had until then addressed more than 20,000 cases related to the protests and highlighted that nearly 100,000 detainees had been releasedwhich gives an idea of ​​the scale of repression.

On the other hand, the Government of Iran has at all times exempted the agents involved in Amini’s arrest from responsibility and has pointed to foreign powers and “infiltrators” as responsible for the protests, although they have acknowledged excesses during the police action against the protests. mobilizations.

Raisi himself described this week Amini’s death as “an incident” and has defended the actions of the authorities when investigating what happened, while reiterating his accusations about “a hybrid, cognitive, political, economic, media and psychological war” against Iran by the United States and “European countries.” “.

Likewise, he stressed in an interview given to the American television network NBC, the first to a foreign media since the beginning of the protests, that “it is known what will happen to those who try to take advantage of Amini’s name to be agents of foreigners and create instability in the country.” “They know that endangering the safety of people and society entails great costs“, he warned, in the face of possible new protests coinciding with the anniversary of the young woman’s death.

A bill against women’s freedom

For its part, the Iranian Parliament is studying a bill to expand punishments against women and girls who do not wear the veil in public spacesa text that has led United Nations rapporteurs to speak of a “gender apartheid“The authorities appear to be governing through systematic discrimination with the intention of forcing women and girls into total submission,” they recently denounced.

The draft, presented in May by the Iranian Government and the Iranian judicial apparatus, is called ‘Support for the Culture of Hijab and Chastity‘ and increases the fines and includes other punishments such as the temporary seizure of the vehicles of those women who do not maintain strict compliance with the use of the veil.

Thus, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turkhas shown this week his “serious concern” about the project and has said that it also includes “travel bans and withdrawal of access to social services“, as well as the use of surveillance technology to analyze the clothing and behavior of Iranian women.

“Reports about women facing legal action for dress code violations have multiplied, even before the draft was approved,” lamented Turk, who has expressed concern about the return of the ‘Moral Police’ and has criticized the “inadequate” accountability for responsibilities arising from Amini’s death.

For its part, Amnesty International has denounced that the Iranian authorities have committed during the last year “endless crimes to eradicate any challenge to their iron grip on power,” including homicides, arbitrary executions, torture, harassment of victims’ families, and reprisals against women and girls who question the use of the veil.

“The Iranian authorities have been inflicting unspeakable cruelty to the population of Iran which, bravely, dares to question decades of repression and inequality,” said the NGO’s deputy regional director for the Middle East and North Africa, Diana Eltahawy.

“One year after the death in custody of Mahsa Amini, not one official has been criminally investigated, much less prosecuted and punished, for crimes committed during and after the uprising,” he added, while who noted that the anniversary of the protests “starkly reminds countries around the world of the need to apply the principle of universal jurisdiction and initiate criminal investigations into the horrendous crimes committed by the Iranian authorities.”

Eltahawy has therefore indicated that “government statements urging the Iranian authorities to abandon the illegitimate use of firearms against protestersStop to inflict torture in custody and release all those detained for peacefully exercising their Human Rights.” “These actions show the victims that they are not alone in these unfortunate moments,” he concluded.