People in Iran have been fighting against the lack of freedom of expression, violation of women’s rights, Islamic laws, and most recently the killing of Mashsa Amini. Amini was arrested by police for not wearing the hijab “properly”. “Most Iranian women prefer only to cover the top of their ideas, letting only a little hair show from the back of the headscarf,” according to Women Travelers. Mashsa Amini’s headscarf was loose on her head and you could see a large amount of her hair from the hijab. The police report stated that Amini’s death was “not caused by blows to the head and limbs” but rather died from “multiple organ failure caused by Cerebral Hypoxia (a condition in which there is a decrease of oxygen supply to the brain even though there is adequate blood flow) according to The Greanville Post.

At least 500 people have been killed in Iran since the protests began in mid-September, according to U.S-based rights moments monitor HRAMA. The first person who was executed in Iran’s crackdown was Monhsen Shekai. He was convicted of injuring a member of Iran’s Basij militia and accused of Moharebeh–a Persian word translating to “waging war against God”.’ He was hanged and he won’t be the last. Half the people the Iranian government is executing don’t have access to a lawyer to defend themselves

Over the past few years, women’s rights have deteriorated. Women aren’t allowed to get a divorce without going to court while a husband can announce a divorce verbally. According to Iranian laws, women must cover their hair with a head scarf and arms and legs with loose clothing or they are imprisoned for up to two months, or flogged with 74 lashes. Women are required to wear the hijab because in Islamic teaching God asked women to wear the hijab in order to achieve modesty and to redirect the focus of both women and men from the materialistic world towards the more spiritual world of God. 

What the government is doing to the Iranians is wrongfully killing them for protests, ignoring their cries for help. There’s a saying “that if one man goes down, they all go down with him”. People across the globe need to show support for the people that are protesting in Iran and these issues should be talked more about in schools. People are risking their lives for their freedom and together as a nation if we stood up to what the government is doing it could help save so many innocent lives.