Iranian-led protests in New York: What are the protesters demanding?

Students attend a vigil at New York University to protest against the current oppressive Iranian regime. (Photo by- Tehsin Pala)

NEW YORK: Numerous Iranian-origin immigrants and Americans have been protesting in the streets of New York since the death of Mahsa (Jina) Amini on Sept. 16. Protesters are often seen carrying posters labeled “Zan. Zendegi. Azadi." (Women. Life. Freedom.) and demanding the fall of the current regime in Iran.

Protesters claim Iran’s repressive policies against women are brutal, especially against minority groups such as the Kurdish community. The most prominent example of this claim remains Mahsa Amini, whose name was changed from Jina because the Iranian regime does not accept Kurdish names. She was a 22-year-old Kurdish woman, detained by the morality police of Iran for allegedly not wearing the hijab (headscarf) properly, compulsory for women in Iran. She died in detention. The authorities alleged that she suffered from a heart attack, but her family argues that she was tortured and beaten by the authorities and died suffering from brutal injuries.

Massive protests against the Islamic regime erupted in Iran after Mahsa’s death which shortly became a worldwide phenomenon. Iranians have been protesting the theocratic regime since its inception in 1979. The first women-led protest against compulsory hijab in Iran occurred even before the hijab mandate was enforced in 1983 due to leaked rumors about the mandate. This enforcement faces continuous resistance from Iranians to date.

According to data from the U.S. Census Bureau in 2019 there were 385,000 Iranian immigrants in the U.S. The U.S. remains the most popular destination for Iranians with California ranking on top according to New York Times. Washington DC, Los Angeles, and New York have been seeing demonstrations by Iranian immigrants to urge the American government and international bodies such as the United Nations into action and create pressure against the Iran regime to dissent against its repressive policies. Protests in New York have taken the form of vigils at New York University and Washington Square Park, rallies, marches, and protest performances throughout the city. Many of these demonstrations use songs, posters, performances, silence, and symbols such as cutting their hair to oppose the morality police of Iran.

Anahita, who prefers to go by her first name due to the dangers associated with open dissent against the Iranian regime, is an Iranian-born immigrant to Canada, currently studying in New York. She is an active participant in the protests as well as organizing groups like Woman Life Freedom NYC.

“This is a women-led feminist revolution, with emphasis on the revolution. It is no longer a protest. It started as a spark from Jina Amini’s death but now it is a call for the end of the Islamic regime in Iran,” she said.

“Anytime I find an opportunity, I am there. Like for Halloween, I dressed up as an Iranian female rage and grief,” she said. She also mentioned an ideology allegedly followed by the regime. The history of this alleged ideology can be traced back to a book written by Hossein Ali-Montazeri, an Iranian cleric, the designated successor to Iran's former Supreme Leader Ruhollah Khomeini for 10 years. “Female prisoners who are virgins, must be raped before execution to prevent them from entering heaven,” said Anahita. “So, when we say religious dictatorship is ruling Iran right now, we mean it. They have these fake wedding ceremonies because you’re not supposed to execute a virgin, so we will rape them and kill them instead,” she continued.

Like Anahita, many youths are not only taking to the streets but also participating in the protests through social media to create a conversation with non-Iranians and encourage them to join the protests.

Some protesters in New York say that these demonstrations are now a revolution asking for more than just the freedom of women in Iran. They have been highlighting not only the atrocities and oppression women face in Iran but also the lack of democracy in general that puts them in constant fear of detention or execution. They argue even children are not spared from the cruelty of the current Iranian regime.

New York is the headquarters of significant human rights bodies including the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund and has been a crucial location for the Iranian diaspora in their demonstrations. On Nov. 10, protesters gathered outside UNICEF headquarters at United Nations Plaza in New York at 12:30 pm to advocate for the rights and safety of children in Iran. This protest was specifically organized on a weekday, unlike other demonstrations usually organized on the weekends, to call for attention and demand action from UNICEF. The protesters were carrying multiple posters with names, photos, ages, and the cause of the death of children in Iran.

“Thirty-two children have died that we know about and there is a lot of them in custody, detention center, and some of them kidnapped and we don’t know their whereabouts,” said Shar Tabibian, one of the protesters. Before joining the protest, she took to the internet to read about the persecuted children of Iran but found herself frustrated when she could not even find their names.

“There are families where the child is shot, the teenager or young adult shot and then the family is presented a bill to pay for the bullets they shot their child,” said Robbert Riggs, an American protester who believes in the cause of the revolution but is also advocating for the rights of his Iranian-origin wife. He underlined his shock at the reality of the average age of the arrested person in Iran, 15, confirmed by Ali Fadavi, deputy commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). “My children are not allowed to get Iranian citizenship because I am a foreign man, but if she was a foreigner and I was an Irani, they would already be citizens,” he said.

“We don’t have anything to say to the Iranian regime, the Iranian regime has to go,” said Asad Taheri.

He has been in the U.S. for 10 years and has been engaging in demonstrations for the past five to six years but has never seen such active mass participation. “Ten days after the revolution started in Iran, we organized. The first one was from the city hall to Brooklyn bridge. Now since then, we have it every week.”

On Nov. 27, UNICEF issued an official statement condemning the violence against children in Iran. It said, “UNICEF condemns all violence against children and calls for an end to all forms of violence and abuse that have reportedly claimed the lives of over 50 children and injured many more during the public unrest in Iran.”