Eye on Iran's Protests - July 6, 2023

The Woman, Life, Freedom movement in Iran continues despite the regime’s ongoing brutality and suppression of women. The regime has killed over 500 people and arrested over 20,000, while executing record numbers of people for minor offenses.

This map shows the location of protests over the past two weeks.

Mahmonir Molaei attended the grave of her cousin, 19-year-old Pouya Molaei-Rad, who was shot and killed by security forces. Molaei’s son, 9-year-old Kian Pirfalak, was also killed by security forces.

The Islamic Republic's anthem was booed at a volleyball match between Iran and the U.S. in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Some fans were also seen waving Iran's ancient flag with the Lion and Sun emblem.

Regime security forces brutally beat a defenseless protester on the street.

This banner in Iran says “the issue of hijab is an issue of respect for women.” After gassing, raping, beating, and killing women and girls for not wearing it, the response from the brave women in this photo best captures what so many of us are thinking.

A graphic video that went viral shows a teacher at Allameh Tabatabai University in Tehran appearing to slam the head of an Iranian female student into a concrete wall.

In Zahedan, Iran, protests broke out for the 39th consecutive Friday since the death in police custody of Mahsa Amini last September. The protesters marched in silence, despite heavy crackdowns and internet outages.

Young women walked on a sidewalk in Iran without the compulsory hijab in support of the Woman, Life, Freedom movement, defying the regime’s brutality used to deter such civil disobedience.

12-year-old Malika Borji died from gunshot wounds in her back. The Iranian people now refer to the authoritarian government as “the child-killing regime” because of the number of youngsters who were purposely shot during the anti-government protests.

Dissident Iranian rapper, Toomaj Salehi, considered by many to be a leading voice of the Woman, Life, Freedom movement, had his second court hearing after months of torture in prison. A verdict is expected to be announced next week.

Toomaj Salehi’s cousin spoke at a rally for justice for the victims of flight PS752, a civilian Ukraine International Airlines flight that was shot down by Iran in January 2020, killing all passengers on board.

Mojahed (Abbas) Kourkouri is at grave risk of protest-related execution in Iran after being sentenced to death in a grossly unfair sham trial marred by torture-tainted “confessions,” which first aired days after his arrest.

Regime agents first beat 23-year-old Amir Zargar for trying to defend a girl against their brutality. After being released from the hospital, he continued to protest, and was mortally wounded in a shooting by plainclothes regime officers.

Analysts widely believe that resistance against the mandatory hijab is going to increase, as the hijab has become a potent symbol of the Islamic Republic’s repression of women and its brutality against peaceful protesters.

During the U.N. Human Rights Council meeting in Geneva, the U.N. fact-finding mission delivered its inaugural report on the human rights situation in Iran and the crackdown on protesters.

Sara Hossain, Chair of the Fact-Finding Mission on the Islamic Republic of Iran at the U.N. Human Rights Council, reported that "Harsh punishments continue to be meted out to those involved in the protests, including for exercising rights protected under international human rights law."

A new report tallied 354 Islamic Republic executions in the past six months, most of which were for minor crimes such as drug offenses. The regime intends to create an atmosphere of fear and intimidation to quash the Woman, Life, Freedom movement.

Brazil’s female soccer team landed in Australia for the Women’s World Cup on a plane that paid tribute to the Woman, Life, Freedom movement. “No women should be forced to cover her head,” writing on the plane read. The plane also featured images of Mahsa Amini and Amir Nasr Azadani, an incarcerated Iranian footballer.

Despite suffering from breast cancer and lupus, longtime political activist Samaneh Moradi has been imprisoned again. While she was in Evin prison, treatment was denied.

Human rights activists Vahid Beheshti has reached day 134 of a sit-in outside the U.K.’s Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office, calling on the U.K. to proscribe the IRGC as a terrorist organization.