Iranian Women Show Great Bravery in Protest of Young Woman’s Death…Watch What They Are Doing with Tears

Women in Iran are showing unimaginable bravery in the way that they are protesting the death of a 22-year-old Kurdish woman named Mahsa Amini. She was arrested recently by the morality police in Iran for not fully covering her hair with a hijab. While she was in police custody where she was supposed to undergo a reprimand and education about the proper way to wear the hijab, she was beaten and fell into a coma before passing away.

Her death has ignited a movement in Iran and around the world. Protests have taken place in the streets where women have pulled off their hijabs and burned them. And possibly the more effective protest has been women uploading videos of themselves cutting off their hair while shedding tears. 

This act of sorrow and solidarity is extremely risky. In 1983, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the religious revolutionary leader, enforced a modesty law that requires women to cover their hair or face with 74 lashes. 

Since 1995, women caught without their hair covered in public can face up to 60 days in jail and fines. 

So seeing women online in Iran defiantly cut, burn or rip their hijab and cut their hair in public is powerful and costly. Some men in Iran and joining with the women and shaved their heads. They are also showing up at the protests and serving as protectors. 

There is one video that shows a girl with beautiful long dark hair sectioning it off before taking small scissors and cutting it to her scalp. She breaks down into tears with the very first cut, and she finishes while crying into her hands. There’s music playing in the background and words put on the screen explain why she is cutting her hair. 

According to U.S. News, there has been a steady pushback against the hijab rule since 2014 after the creation of an online campaign called My Stealthy Freedom. The campaign collected pictures of Iranian women without their hair covered.

The hashtag #MahsaAmini on TikTok is filled with videos of people cutting their hair, crowds gathered in the streets, and stories of the 22-year-old. This women’s death seems to have started a new revolution. 

Watch: