Editor’s note: The death of Mahsa Amini earlier this month, after she was arrested by Iran’s Morality Police for allegedly not wearing her hijab according to official regulations, has sparked outrage and protests across the Islamic Republic and around the world, marking the Global Day of Action Iran is scheduled for Saturday Rallies around the world (more info below). Iranian-born actress and Amnesty International UK Ambassador Nazanin Boniadi, currently co-starring in Prime Video’s The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, reflects on Amini’s tragic death and what could be a pivotal time for her home country.
Two months ago, in Hall H at San Diego Comic-Con, I dedicated my The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Figure Bronwyn to the brave women of my homeland of Iran who have been on the front lines of the fight for greater freedom for more than four decades. Little did I know at that moment how meaningful those words would be today.
Most of you have by now heard the name of Mahsa “Zhina” Amini, the 22-year-old Iranian Kurdish woman who was arrested by Iran’s “morality police” on September 13 for violating the country’s draconian dress code for women, and who fell into a coma and died in custody just three days later. Mahsa’s family – who have said she had no pre-existing conditions – have been denied access to her medical records. When her father went to the coroner’s office, her body was completely covered and he could only get a glimpse of her injured leg. Other women arrested with Mahsa have testified that she begged the police for mercy when they beat her in the squad car.
And one only has to look at the countless videos from Iran of beating peaceful protesters to understand the level of brutality the security forces are capable of. The regime rounded up the likes of singer Shervin Hajipour, star soccer player Hossein Mahini and others for speaking out. More than 70 protesters, including women and children, have reportedly been killed since the protests began on September 16, and hundreds more have been injured by security forces. Iranian authorities have reported at least 1,200 arrests during the protests, including prominent activists and journalists.
The image of Mahsa in a coma in a hospital bed went viral online and on social media. And the hashtag #MahsaAmini has been shared more than 150 million times worldwide – almost double the population of Iran. Unsurprisingly, the Iranian authorities have felt so threatened by this movement that they have once again disrupted the internet in Iran to prevent people from organizing and to crack down on protests with impunity.
What we have witnessed in the two weeks since Mahsa’s untimely death is nothing short of the first woman-led revolution of our time. Iranian women caused a paradigm shift when they took to the streets to burn their obligatory hijabs and cut their hair in protest while men forcibly joined them. As well as several top-class Iranian athletes, actors and filmmakers. Acclaimed Iranian actress Katayoun Riahi bravely gave an interview from Iran without her mandatory headscarf in solidarity with Mahsa. She said that “people are no longer afraid of prison because Iran itself has become a prison.”
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As women across the US witness the reversal of hard-won gains in physical autonomy, Mahsa’s fate reminds us to remain vigilant and never take our freedoms for granted. She forced the world to reckon with our complacency in protecting women’s rights, but when the protesters began shouting, “Woman! Life! Freedom!” — the antithesis of the misogynist, pro-martyrdom regime that is destroying their liberties — began to include the slogans “Death to the Dictator,” and it became increasingly clear that their demands were not just mandatory dress codes, but an end to the entire theocratic system. And while men joined in this chant, women engaged them in the fray, rhythmically singing back, “Man! Home! Freedom!” – an entity that inspires fear at the heart of a system built on the oppression and segregation of women. It is an undeniable fact that any misogynistic government is misanthropic.
Since the founding of the Islamic Republic in 1979, women in Iran have not only fought against the compulsory hijab, but also for their right to choose what to study and which jobs to take. Women are forbidden from becoming judges and from holding the highest political offices in the country. There are no laws protecting women from domestic or gender-based violence.
The grim reality is that the Islamic Republic has become an apartheid state for women, segregated from men in the workplace, in classrooms and on beaches; they are prohibited from attending sports arenas, riding bicycles and singing solo in public; and have to sit in the back of the bus.
Negating these as “cultural differences” dismisses the countless Iranian women who risk everything for their basic rights. It’s offensive, and more importantly, it’s a dangerously false narrative designed to protect the existing systems of patriarchal misogyny in such countries. Cultural norms don’t have to be enforced with death threats.
Hard to believe that this is the same country that gave women the right to vote eight years before women in Switzerland and that once had a highly acclaimed national ballet company.
Perhaps it is precisely the understanding of the fragility of our freedoms that has the world in turmoil around Mahsa and the plight of women in Iran. Since the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa, we have seen such a level of global attention for the struggle to end all forms of racial segregation.
But how do we – the creative community – translate our outrage into meaningful action and prevent the Iranian authorities from crushing another insurgency? One way is to use our profile and platforms to highlight injustice, as we do in this video released today, featuring Oscar winners Olivia Colman and Ariana DeBose, Succession’s Brian Cox, Kate Beckinsale, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Bradley Whitford of The Handmaid’s Tale and others have done.
A lesson can be learned from Alfre Woodard, Danny Glover, Blair Underwood and several other longtime anti-apartheid activists in the creative community who founded Artists for a Free South Africa in 1989 and were instrumental in turning the tide of apartheid . They successfully used their platforms to attract media attention, mobilize people in support of the struggle and build transnational networks. And that is exactly what we need now for Iran. How you can help:
1. In the absence of domestic avenues for justice in Iran, Amnesty International has launched a global action urging people around the world to sign a petition addressed to UN member states urging them to urgently set up an independent UN Establish mechanism to investigate and account for the most serious crimes under international law committed in Iran. We also call on people to contact their home government’s State Department to support the establishment of this investigative mechanism.
2. We need the world to send a strong message to the Iranian authorities that their crimes will not go unsolved and with impunity. Please continue to amplify the voices of the Iranian people on social media by following and sharing information from credible activists and organizations. Please use the correct hashtags in these posts: #MahsaAmini and #IranProtests. The Islamic Republic’s cyber army has been busy disrupting the dynamic by introducing the wrong spellings for these hashtags.
3. Show up at protests and network with Iranian activists for strategic actions like creating informative videos.
4. Donate to credible, Iran-aligned human rights organizations — like Human Rights Activist News Agency (HRANA), the Abdorrahman Boroumand Center, and Amnesty International Iran — that document and report human rights abuses. And apps like Toosheh, which help Iranians bypass censorship and gain internet freedom.
As creators, we rely heavily on freedom of expression in our work, so we must do what we can to protect it wherever it is violated. Artists have a unique ability to reach the masses and effect significant change, which is perhaps why artist silence has become a hallmark of oppressive states like the Islamic Republic. We owe it to our colleagues in Iran to stand by them as they fight for their most basic rights.
So now I ask you – our larger artistic community – to join us in our fight to end gender apartheid in Iran. In the words of Bronwyn, who gave the Southlanders a call to action in Episode 5 of The Rings of Power: “Who of you will stand by me? Which of you will stand and fight?”
More information on the Global Day of Action for Iran can be found here.