Iran Votes to Execute 15,000 Participants in Women's Rights Protests
by: Ari Hoffman 11/10/2022
According to Newsweek, the 22-year-old Kurdish woman was arrested by the country's "morality police" for allegedly wearing an "improper" form of hijab during a visit to Tehran and was allegedly beaten while in custody and later died from a fatal head injury.
Iranian authorities have denied the accusation.
Following Amini's death, massive protests broke out across the country with included female protesters burning their hijabs and cutting their hair in public in defiance of the rules imposed by Iran's Islamic government.
Other protesters have staged demonstrations around the world in solidarity with the protesters.
Iranian lawmakers under the leadership of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei have called for strict punishments for the protesters.
According to CNN, a letter signed by 227 members of the Iranian parliament stated that harsh punishment for the protesters "would serve as a good lesson in the shortest possible time."
Iranian government spokesman Masoud Setayeshi said, "Now, the public, even protesters who are not supportive of riots, demand from the judiciary and security institutions to deal with the few people who have caused disturbances in a firm, deterrent, and legal manner."
On Tuesday, 227 out of the 290 total members of the parliament voted to impose the death penalty on all protesters in custody. Carnegie Endowment fellow Karim Sadjadpour said the number of protesters was approaching 15,000.
Sadjadpour wrote in a tweet, "In the last 8 weeks Iran's regime has killed over 300 protestors, imprisoned nearly 15,000, and threatened to execute hundreds more, yet Iran's women persist. Today female university students removed their forced hejab and chant, 'I am a free woman.'"
According to Newsweek, it is not yet known when the executions will be carried out.
The White House has also faced criticism from Iranian Americans calling for the Biden administration to abandon its efforts to resurrect the failed Iran nuclear deal following the Islamic government’s brutal crackdown on the women-led protest movement.
In response to the criticism, US special envoy to Iran, Robert Malley, said that the administration “makes no apology” for “trying to do everything we can to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon.”
Despite President Joe Biden’s efforts to revive the deal since August, it is already near collapse. Formerly known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the agreement would give Tehran billions of dollars in sanctions relief in exchange for the country agreeing to roll back its nuclear program to the limits set by the 2015 deal, which was brokered by the Obama administration. The Trump administration withdrew from the deal in 2018.