Iranian exile Alinejad compares the hijab to the Berlin Wall |
“If the veil falls, the Iranian regime falls too”
Iranians have been demonstrating against the regime of the Islamic Republic for three weeks – and now schoolchildren and students are also taking to the streets. It’s a new development of resistance.
“Teenagers became the greatest threat to the Islamic Republic, teachers took to the streets, they called a national strike. University professors took to the streets, which shows the diversity of the protest, it shows that the Iranian people have decided they want an END to the apartheid regime,” said Masih Alinejad (46) from American exile in BILD. She is a famous Iranian-American activist.
Reason for the protests: the killing of a young woman by police officers. Jina (Masah Amini) was targeted by the regime’s henchmen because her headscarf was supposedly too loose. Since then, demonstrations against the rule of the mullahs have been taking place across the country, especially in the Kurdish-dominated west of Iran.
Masih Alinejad at a protest for Jina (Masah Amini) on October 1 in Los Angeles, California
Official balance so far: at least 133 dead and countless arrests! According to Reporters Without Borders, 28 journalists were also arrested.
“We need an open investigation into the murders, because the actual number of murders is much higher and international politics should finally end all their dealings with the Iranian regime,” demands Alinejad in BILD.
Alinejad is one of the best-known Iranian human rights activists. For years she has been fighting against the compulsory hijab in her home country.
The Iranian revolutionary leader Ali Khamenei (83) commented on the protests in the country for the first time on Monday: The demonstrations against the regime were controlled from abroad. They are part of a ‘foreign conspiracy’ to destabilize Iran. Khamenei blamed the US and Israel.
“The supreme leader of Iran is clearly afraid of me and millions of other women who have decided to overthrow this regime,” Alinejad said of Khamenei’s testimony in BILD.
► According to Alinejad, what is behind the ayatollah’s statements: “Ali Khamenei knows that the compulsory hijab is the Achilles’ heel of the Islamic Republic. For years I’ve compared the hijab requirement to the Berlin Wall. When the wall fell, so did communism. Khamenei knows this and that is why he is willing to kill innocent Iranian women to stay in power.”
Meanwhile, the regime continues to try to downplay the protests: The state media reports that the situation in the country is calm. Reports of protests are lies from abroad.
Pupils demonstrate in the classroom and leave the school
Students also join the protest. In several classrooms, young schoolgirls took off their headscarves and shouted “Death to the dictator” – meaning “revolutionary leader” Ali Khamenei. More and more schoolgirls are taking to the streets.
“In my opinion, this is a women’s revolution. Iranian women burn their headscarves, which is no small piece of cloth. It is the main pillar of the religious dictatorship. The Iranian women and girls are confronted with guns and bullets, it’s not just about the obligatory hijab, they want their basic rights,” said Alinejad in BILD.
BILD human rights expert on the Iran protests “If the headscarf falls, the mullahs fall”
29.09.2022