September 16, 2022 was a devastating day that caused rebellion against the Iranian government. On that day, Mahsa Amini, passed away after being in custody of the morality police for wearing her hijab incorrectly.

After Amini was arrested, she was taken to a “re-education” center. There, she fell into a coma for three days which she later died in. The government claims the coma was a result of a heart attack. However, autopsy photos were released and she had appeared to be beaten.

Amini’s death caused public outrage. This caused many protests and marches to break out across the country. Iranin police have responded to these protests with rubber bullets, tear gas, and batons. The Iran Human Rights group has reported 185 protest related deaths and counting.

Prior to the revoltion, a feminist movement had broke out. In the 1970s women had gained the right to vote, expanded divorce rights, and could now take part in public office. Now, protests have been prevalent at universities across the country. The Sharif University of Technology in Tehran, in particular, has been supporting the movement. Students were met with similar police response as other protests around the country. Azadeh Keivani, a data scientist at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and Sharif alum, has spoken on the issue.

“Universities have always been the place for brave young adults with brilliant minds who are not scared of openly expressing their opinions,” said Keivani.

In response, the supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, has publicly blamed the US and Israel for the protests. Blaming domestic problems on other countries has been a common trend for the Iranian Islamic republic.

“I say clearly that these riots and the insecurity were engineered by America and the occupying, false Zionist regime [Israel], as well as their paid agents, with the help of some traitorous Iranians abroad,” Khamenei said.

There is no evidence to support these claims. The outrage of Iranian protesters originates from the highly strict and immoral governmental laws. CNN representative, Teele Rebane, took quotes from Iranians during protests.
“This is far from over. We are not scared. We are outraged. We are furious. You know, these people think that we are the previous generation – that if they do this, we’re gonna just stop. We are not going to stop,” he (anonymous) said.