A former Drury professor, Dr. Elnaz Parviz, speaks on protests happening in Iran

On Sept. 13, a young woman by the name of Mahsa Amini was arrested by the morality police in Iran. While to Americans, being arrested by something called the “morality police” seems to come from something by Margaret Atwood, this is the tragic reality for women in Iran.

Allegedly, Amini was not wearing her hijab, or headscarf, correctly and this was the cause of her arrest. When the police released Amini from custody she was in a coma which the police claim was from a heart attack, citing their footage of her collapsing as proof; however, reports say she was beaten with a baton. She died in a hospital on September 16th, and the protests began at her funeral.

As of Nov. 7, according to Reuters, at least 356 protestors have died. This includes 16-year-old Nika Shahkarami. On Sept. 20 she attended one of the protests and there is footage circulating the internet of her setting a hijab on fire. She went missing that day. Her body was reportedly found in a courtyard the next day but her family was not allowed to see the body to confirm her identity until eight days later. While her death has been classified as a homicide, authorities are claiming that it had nothing to do with her attendance at the protest. However, according to CNN reporting, witnesses are casting doubt on the story released by authorities.

According to reporting by the BBC, the use of the hashtag #Mahsa_Amini declined drastically after the first couple of weeks of protests. This is due to the Islamic Republic trying to silence the people of Iran, not allowing them to share their stories with people outside. This is reminiscent of a case that happened two years ago. Mohsen Min Bashi, a 37-year-old man, was shot and killed by police. The Iranian government shut down the internet completely to avoid outsiders from getting involved.

This type of police brutality toward women is nothing new in Iran. I spoke with Dr. Elnaz Parviz, a former assistant professor of Communication Studies at Drury University and an immigrant from Iran, tells me that smaller bursts of protests have been happening for the past 50 years.

Dr. Parviz comments on how the movement has brought people together. “Since I am an immigrant I was always told I couldn’t comment on what was happening because I chose to leave,” says Dr. Parviz. This was a tactic the government used to isolate the country further.

Dr. Parviz has been speaking out about the situation, and she encourages everyone else to do so as well. She urges that we cannot recognize the Islamic Republic as a legitimate government because it does not represent the people of Iran. Nations need to recognize the humanity of the people and stop making deals with the Islamic Republic, to effectively stop funding them.

Follow Dr. Parviz on Instagram to follow her journey while she engages with the protests @dr.elnaz.parviz. She also encourages students to follow Amnesty International, a nonprofit human rights organization that has kept the stories of the protests alive.

Dr. Parviz says the previous regime collapsed after 80 days of protesting. For now, the people in Iran need to keep fighting and the people out need to support those people. Today, we are at day 56 of the protests. Maybe there will be hope for a revolution 24 days from now.