“Woman, Life, Freedom” is the rallying cry of the movement to end the Iranian government’s repression of women’s and human rights. It has been shouted especially loudly since the deaths of Armita Geravand, a 16-year-old girl, who reportedly died after a violent altercation with ‘morality police’ enforcers on the metro in Tehran, and Mahsa Jina Amini, who died in Iranian police custody in September 2022.
Many people are concerned that the United Nations, an intergovernmental organisation created to maintain peaceful international relations, is not heeding the call to support Iranian women in their struggle for freedom.
While the UN Secretary-General António Guterres has condemned Iran’s violent crackdown on peaceful protesters, Ali Bahreini, an Iranian diplomat, has been appointed to chair the UN Human Rights Council 2023 Social Forum, which begins today.
As Mariam Claren, daughter of Nahid Taghavi, a German-Iranian human rights activist who is imprisoned in Iran, told DW, “I don’t understand how a country with such atrocities and human rights violations can chair a UNHCR forum.”
Neither the UN nor Ali Bahreini has appeared to address the backlash.
The death of Mahsa Jina Amini in morality police custody in September 2022 sparked the longest sustained nationwide protests in the history of the Islamic Republic and was met with the most brutal crackdown by government security forces. Under pressure to respond, it marked a turning point in how the international community engaged with Iranian women’s and human rights.
However, just over a year later, history seems to be repeating itself. Armita Geravand, a 16-year-old girl, has reportedly died after a violent altercation with morality police enforcers on the metro in Tehran.
The Guardian reported eyewitnesses saying that upon entering the carriage, Armita was heckled and pushed by an enforcer for not wearing a hijab, causing the schoolgirl to fall into a coma and hit her head against a pole. State-run media only published video footage from outside the train carriage, where she is seen being dragged out by women and put onto the ground. CCTV footage from inside the carriage has not been released.
OLIVIER DOULIERY