Iran's Women Lead the Challenge to Theocratic Rule

The focus is on women’s rights, but dissatisfaction with the mullahs is widespread. The regime is responding to growing protests with vicious—and well-practiced—tactics

- FATMA KHALED

The death of a young Iranian woman in police custody sparked what activists are now calling an “uprising,” against which Iranian authorities are using methods of abuse perfected over the past four decades to silence dissent.

The women of Iran have emerged as the dominant force in the protests and are taking matters into their own hands, bringing together various critical elements of society all insisting on change.

Protests broke out in mid-September after 22-year-old Mahsa Amini died in police custody after her arrest by Iran’s Guidance Patrol, also known as the “Morality Police,” for allegedly defying the Islamic Republic’s conservative laws. In response to the mass anger, the Iranian regime fiercely cracked down on anti-government demonstrations, killing 287 protesters and arresting more than 14,000 people as of October 31, according to the Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA).

From arbitrary arrests and detention to forced confessions and torture, Iran is still using the same tactics used in the 2019 uprising and the 1979 revolution to punish activists and those who oppose Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi’s regime.

A human rights activist who requested anonymity tells Newsweek that violence is the “greatest instrument” the regime typically uses, but it has added new tactics, many of which are extreme and widely abusive, in an effort to end protests.

“Mass arrests have increased even compared to the last waves of protests,” the activist says. “The regime’s handling of the media is different— the government quite deliberately spreads misinformation to confuse the protesters.”