Repression is intensifying in Iran ahead of the first anniversary of the uprising that took place on September 16, 2022 under the slogan "Woman, Life, Freedom." On August 16, at least a dozen women’s rights activists were arrested in the northern province of Guilan. Among them were researcher Jelveh Javaheri, graphic designer Shiva Shahsiah and photographer Matine Yazdani. On Thursday, August 17, their families gathered outside the prosecutor’s office in Rasht, the capital of Guilan province, but were unable to obtain any information about their detained relatives.
Elsewhere in the country, the list of arrests is also growing, particularly among followers of the religious minority not recognized by the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Bahais, including the couple Maria and Jamaloddin Khanjani. The latter, aged 90, served a ten-year prison sentence between 2008 and 2018. Meanwhime student protesters at the forefront of the demonstrations that rocked Iran for months, have been summoned by the secret service in large numbers in recent days. The same applies to former political prisoners arrested at the time of the uprising.
On September 13, 2022, Mahsa Amini, an Iranian woman of Kurdish origin, was arrested in Teheran by the morality police charged with monitoring compliance with dress codes in Iran and arresting offenders. The Iranian woman died three days later, probably as a result of blows to the head received while in police custody. In the days following her death, a wave of protest unprecedented in its scope and duration engulfed the country, led by Iranian women determined to remove their headscarves. Tens of thousands of protesters were arrested and at least seven young men were hanged for taking part in the movement.
Today, there are no more demonstrations in the country’s streets. But Iranian women continue to go out without veils, while the regime hardly seems ready to make concessions. Agents of the morality police are back on the streets, harassing those who dare to go bareheaded in public. "For some weeks now, we’ve been witnessing a new wave of repression in the run-up to the anniversary of the uprising," confirmed Sima, who wished to speak under a pseudonym. Arrested during a demonstration in Tehran in September 2022, the 40-year-old Iranian spent almost three months in prison before being pardoned by the courts. In early August, she was again summoned by the police.
"A policeman asked me to sign a letter committing me not to take part in any demonstrations," said Sima, contacted via the encrypted messaging system Telegram, which is blocked in Iran but accessible through anti-filtering software. "Many of those around me who were arrested during the protests were summoned and forced to sign this same letter," she explained.
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