Episode 96: How One Woman Lost Her Life & Sparked Nationwide Protests for Not Wearing a Headscarf

Protests began erupting across Iran in late September following the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who was arrested in Tehran by morality police. Amini, who was visiting Tehran with her family, was arrested for not wearing her headscarf, and died in a hospital three days later. Her brother reports she was taken to a “re-education center” for not abiding by the state’s hijab rules and was beaten there. State police say Amini died from a heart attack, but her family insists she had no heart issues and was beaten to death by the police. Massive demonstrations began at Amini’s funeral, and they continue to sweep across the country now five weeks later. Human rights monitors have reported hundreds dead, including children. As of a few days ago, the count is up to at least 233 Iranians dead, with 32 below the age of 18.

To take a deeper look at what’s happening right now in Iran, I invited my friend Laurie Meberg on to today’s episode. Laurie lives in France and she has about 10 years of experience serving the Iranian church in different cities and capacities around the world. Laurie also grew up worshipping in a church with connections to the Iranian church, so she’s been praying for the Iranian church and Persian Christians her whole life. Laurie shares the perspectives of her Iranian friends with us, as well as some ways we can be better informed, pray, and even protest from the other side of the world.

Helpful links related to today’s episode:

Shervin Hajipour’s song Baroye (For/Because of) w/ English subtitles: https://youtu.be/TPyHuCZzsVA

articleeighteen.com is an organization by Iranian Churches in Europe geared toward holding the Republic of Iran accountable for human rights offenses and especially against Christians.

This explains a bit about the morality police: https://www.newindianexpress.com/world/2022/oct/13/explainer-who-are-the-morality-policebasijs-leading-the-crackdown-on-irans-protests-2507716.html

Listeners can pressure their own congresspeople to hold Iran accountable for human rights offenses. Ghazaleh Pakdel and Sarah Bahiraei have drafted a letter or template to use: https://docs.google.com/document/d/131jpaWSjq9hr9tsQ57msNhAZ0a2BWWv985dJpb2PFQQ/edit

"The daily" podcast from NYT dated September 28 is a really good overview/background for what’s going on: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcasts/the-daily/id120036?i=1000580894944

Iranian Bible Society: https://www.onemorelamp.org