Protect Women From Reported Brutality and Death Due to Clothing

Target: Masoud Pezeshkian, President of Iran

Goal: Stop police patrols that target women for non-compliance with hijab laws.

Women’s rights are once again in the spotlight in Iran after a pair of high-profile incidents. Video footage captured the first incident, in which an unidentified university student faced reported harassment and beatings from on-site authorities because her hair was cut and she was not dressed in the “appropriate” attire. The apparent harassment resulted in the woman’s top being ripped. In protest, she stripped down to her underwear and was taken to some unknown location for “treatment.”

The second unrelated incident involved a 25-year-old woman who posted a social media video in which she was seemingly harassed by a guard on a motorcycle for several minutes. After the video drew attention, authorities announced that the woman was being arrested and prosecuted for not abiding by the country’s mandatory hijab-wearing laws. Since, then, no information has been provided about the woman’s whereabouts or her welfare. Concern has prompted a social media hashtag: Where is Roshanak Molaei?”

The most recent encounters demonstrate how little has changed since the 2022 death of another Iranian woman, Mahsa Amini, at the hands of police. That case prompted nationwide protests, which resulted in hundreds more deaths following a brutal crackdown. Sign the petition below to demand Iran’s new reformist president honor his pledge to end these brutalities.

PETITION LETTER:

Dear President Pezeshkian,

Prior to your election, you vowed to be a reformer who would end morality police patrols that often resulted in violence. The 2022 death of Mahsa Amini should have prompted this reckoning. Yet in the past few weeks alone, two women have apparently been accosted – and at least one reportedly beaten – because of these patrols. And observers have affirmed that the patrols are still commonplace at public fixtures like universities, where one of the incidents unfolded.

Such incidents have not only drawn international outcry but may very likely prompt a fresh wave of protests within Iran. Do not let history repeat itself and endanger more women. Please fulfill your promise to the electorate and crack down not on women opposing oppression but on dangerous police brutality.

Sincerely,

[Your Name Here]

Photo Credit: Raimundo Pastor Pilar