Why women are burning hijabs in Iran
Post Reports
The Washington Post
4.4 • 5.1K Ratings
🗓️ 22 September 2022
⏱️ 18 minutes
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Summary
The death of Mahsa Amini is igniting protests across Iran — and it’s drawing global attention to Iranians’ anger and frustration with their ultra-conservative leaders.
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Earlier this month, 22-year-old Mahsa Amini was detained by the so-called morality police in Tehran for violating Iran’s law on headscarves and died several days later. In the days since, protesters have flooded the streets in cities across Iran. Many have been burning hijabs, symbolizing their frustration with the Islamic republic’s restrictive rules and oppressive treatment of women.
None of this comes without aggressive pushback from the Iranian government, however — including restricted internet access and cell service, police beatings of protesters, and enormous deployment of security forces.
Foreign affairs reporter Miriam Berger explains the significance of these protests and what could happen next.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | In Iran, hijabs are burning. |
| 0:18.4 | Over the past few days, we have seen these scenes of massive crowds of women protesting |
| 0:23.0 | in the street, marching, chanting, yelling at police, and breaking the laws around their |
| 0:28.4 | hair. Women are taking off their hijab, burning their hijab, cutting their hair, doing all |
| 0:34.9 | these, again, small acts that have really big meaning. Others are speaking out against |
| 0:40.4 | the government, specifically yelling death to the dictator, which is a reference to the |
| 0:44.6 | supreme leader. |
| 0:51.0 | Miriam Berger is a foreign affairs reporter for the post. She has been covering these protests, |
| 0:56.2 | which started after the death of Masa Amini. Amini was a 22-year-old woman who died after |
| 1:01.9 | she was taken into police custody for allegedly violating the country's strict dress codes. |
| 1:07.7 | It really just ignited a lot of anger in Iran that had been long, simmering, and also had |
| 1:13.2 | already been displayed in what has been weeks-long, smaller-scale protests by women, |
| 1:19.3 | against wearing the hijab, the head scarf, which is compulsory for women there. And so this really |
| 1:25.7 | was ignited in part by all these long-standing grievances, unemployment, inflation, and |
| 1:31.3 | also what women had been doing in the streets in recent weeks. |
| 1:36.8 | As protests intensify, the government is cracking down. Now the question is, what happens next? |
| 1:43.7 | From the newsroom of the Washington Post, this is Post Reports. I'm Martine Powers. It's |
| 1:48.9 | Thursday, September 22. Today, how the death of Masa Amini is sparking protests, and putting |
| 1:56.4 | the world's focus on Iranians' anger and frustration with their ultra-conservated leaders. |
| 2:01.9 | So Miriam, tell me more about what exactly sparked these protests. |
| 2:18.5 | So a 22-year-old named Masa Amini from Western Iran, the Kurdistan province, was in Tehran |
| 2:26.0 | early last week, and according to reports was detained by the so-called morality police, |
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