Why aren’t feminists here backing brave woman-led Iranians? We need to show up

You probably know about Mahsa Amini, the 22-year-old Iranian woman who died in the custody of the morality police in mid-September after being arrested for wearing her headscarf the wrong way.

Since then, the increasingly brutal crackdowns on those involved in the massive protests that Amini’s death have set off really do show, as a U.S. State Department spokesman said recently, that Iranian officials fear their own people. And they are right to, because history says that it’s the people who will prevail.

Every time I see my friend Behnaz here in Sacramento, I ask what she’s hearing from her family back in Iran. And every time, what she’s hearing is worse.

Opinion

This last time, though, what she said bothered my conscience: “You know what’s sad? No Americans ever come to our rallies.”

Iranian-Americans were part of #MeToo, she said, and protested the murder of George Floyd right alongside everyone else. “But now our young people are being killed for standing up for their human rights, and where is everybody?”

This situation could not be more serious; Behnaz does not even want me to use her last name out of fear for her family’s safety. Yet “where are the feminists” who you’d have thought would have been first to support the woman-led movement set off by Amini’s murder?

All I could say in response was that I knew one feminist who would show up at their next rally. And sure enough, a Bee photographer and I seemed to be the only non-Iranians at a vigil at the State Capitol on Wednesday night.

The community, particularly upset at the news of the recent executions of two young men, and with reason to believe that many more may be coming soon, had decided to spend 48 hours in front of the statehouse, mourning the dead and crying out for action. Our action.

Yet not one of the state California lawmakers and other officials invited to stop by did.

Doing so could have been more than an act of courtesy. In some European countries, including Germany and Sweden, lawmakers have unofficially “adopted” an incarcerated activist, bringing international attention to that person’s story in the hope that this spotlight might save his or her life.

Letters begging our lawmakers to follow their example have so far gone unanswered, activists said.

Everyone I met at the candlelight vigil, held in front of a noose and photos of Amini and of the recently executed young people, told me that what’s happening across their country is not just about headscarves, but about human rights.

Police are “stealing the bodies of the dead and burying them overnight,” said Talieh Ghane, an architect who recently cut her Iranian passport into little pieces.

“I’m an atheist, but according to their religion, they’re not supposed to bury people at night. And the families of these youth” killed for standing up for their rights are being pressured to “just tell the press your children committed suicide or had cancer. Now the parliament that is supposed to be protecting people has voted in favor of executing all ‘warriors against God.’ ”

Yet instead of reacting in fear, she said, “the difference is now,” for the first time in 43 years, “we know it’s the end” of the revolution that began in 1979, and of the repression that’s gone on ever since.

As of November 29, the Iranian Human Rights group said Iranian security forces had killed at least 488 protesters, including 50 children, and had arrested some 14,000 since September.

On Monday, the regime announced that it had hanged 23-year-old protestor Majidreza Rahnavard in public. Rahnavard had been tortured, denied legal counsel and, based on a coerced confession, found guilty of killing two paramilitary members in a secret trial.

Rahnavard was dangled from a construction crane, lifted into the air and left kicking at the air as he slowly asphyxiated for all to see.

Instead of hiding their inhumanity and lack of due process, they advertised it. The pro-regime Mizan news agency proudly published a montage of gory images of the young man’s execution in Mashhad.

Last week, the regime also hanged Mohsen Shekari, who after blocking a Tehran street with a guardrail to protect protesters, was found guilty of wounding a member of the militia. In doing so, officials said, he was “waging war against God.”

A video of what was supposed to be Shekari’s confession showed that his face had been bruised. And in a final bit of cruel theater, his family was then sent from cemetery to cemetery looking for his body.

With Iran supporting Russia by supplying drones to Putin to use in Ukraine, dictators are sticking together, said Ghane, and people who love freedom need to do likewise.

“We have hope,” she said, “but we need help.”

Another activist said that earlier in the day, she had knocked on every door of every member of the California assembly, and talked to many staff members, hoping to interest someone in coming down to the vigil to have a bowl of Persian Ash Reshteh and at least learn about what some European lawmakers are doing to help.

“Not one person showed up,” she said.

You can change that, because in this country, unlike hers, politicians do care what constituents think.

“I moved here because I wanted to be free as a woman,” said 24-year-old Mahi Mokhtari, whose 22-year-old “lovely brother” was fatally shot by police in 2011, “just for walking down the street.”

“I’m here to be his voice,” she said, crying, “but we all have to do something.”

In this country, doing something would not require the bravery of those being killed for standing up for their most basic rights. But do let your lawmakers know that their solidarity with these courageous young people would be appreciated.

The next protest in this area will be held at 6199 Sunrise Boulevard in Citrus Heights at 11:30 on Sunday, Dec. 18.