Birmingham’s Iranian community protests against Iran’s crackdown on demonstrations

Members of the Iranian community held a protest in Birmingham City Centre against the crackdown on similar demonstrations in their country.

The public gathering was organised in solidarity of people in Iran who have been protesting since the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini.

Mahsa was detained by Iran’s morality police for allegedly wearing her head scarf too loosely and died in custody on September 16, 2022. She was reportedly beaten while in custody.

Her death sparked unprecedented protests with protestors calling for the end of mandatory veiling known as hijab.

In Birmingham, more than a dozen people gathered for a public demonstration yesterday. They held up their national flag while chanting slogans against their government.

One person beat drums to gather people around.

One of the protesters, Nahid, told BirminghamWorld: “It’s not a protest anymore, we call it revolution now. They call it a hijab but it’s not just hijab. We hate our government because of what they did in my country. They killed lots of the young generation. The protest in Iran is illegal so what they do is just stop them.

“We try to be the voice of our country. We know, it is not a huge amount but that is just the voice of my country.”

Laws about Hijab in Iran

The mandatory veil law has been controversial since it was introduced in 1979. It was introduced after the Islamic revolution in Iran and on March 8, 1979, thousands of women marched to protest against it. Even non-Muslims and foreigners visiting Iran are required to wear the hijab in public.

Women’s groups have tried to change the law over the years and the only concession allowed so far was to women in Tehran. Instead of a fine or imprisonment, they are taken to Islam educational classes for being a “bad hijabi”, according to The Conversation.

However, Mahsa Amini was arrested and taken to jail despite being in Tehran. Her death sparked weeks of protests.

The country recently rejected a U.N. investigation into the protests. There has been a deadly crackdown on those rising against the government and thousands of arrests have taken place.