SFU students join wave of global protests over death of Mahsa Amini

SFU students have joined a global wave of protests demanding justice for Mahsa Amini, the 22-year-old Iranian woman who died in hospital last month after being beaten by members of the country’s “morality police.”

Amini was arrested by an Iranian police force, known as the Guidance Patrol, for allegedly wearing her hijab too loosely and allowing some of her hair to show. All women are required to wear the hijab in Iran.

Witnesses have accused police at the station where Amini was taken of beating her until she fell into a coma, although police have denied those allegations. The government has claimed Amini had pre-existing health conditions; something her family has repeatedly refuted.

After several days in the coma, Amini died on Sept. 17, sparking huge and unprecedented protests in Tehran and across Iran.

Tens of thousands of people have begun marches through the streets, demanding accountability for Amini’s death, but also wider change in the country’s strict morality laws. Many videos posted to social media show women removing their hijabs and cutting off their hair in an act of defiance.

One viral video posted Wednesday shows teenage schoolgirls shouting at a speaker from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), a branch of the Iranian armed forces, and shaking their headscarves at him as they tell him to leave.

Iranian authorities have dismissed the protests as a result of Western meddling in Iranian affairs. But one SFU student says Amini’s death catapulted residents of Iran into a realization that they had to do something.

“[Amini] became a symbol for all the Iranians to actually realize the 43 years of oppression that the people were facing,” says Y.A., a member of the SFU Iranian Club. Burnaby Beacon has agreed to identify Y.A. by her initials only.

“ … It was like [an] wakening time for my people. After her death, it was like everybody woke up and they realized that, ‘Oh, we have to stand one more time’—this time stronger together and more organized in a sense to talk against this oppression that’s going on, and to let the world know about it.”

The protests have quickly turned violent, with police and armed forces opening fire on those marching. As of Oct. 4, the organization Iran Human Rights claims at least 154 people have been killed—although the number of reported deaths varies between organizations and media reports.

In the past few days, Iranian forces have turned their attention to prominent university campuses. Riot police reportedly raided the prestigious Sharif University in Tehran, detaining, beating, and in some cases shooting students inside the campus.

Some students were reportedly shot with paintballs—Y.A. said she has heard that the reason for this is presumably to mark those students as being involved with the protests.

“We received voice messages of students who were terrified, absolutely terrified. I myself was at work, and when I heard the news, I was shattered. My mental health was shattered,” Y.A. said.

“It was thinking about the fact that as I’m working, the other side is challenging [Iran] for their basic human rights and they’re being held hostage.”

A week after Amini’s death, an informal protest at SFU’s Burnaby campus gathered to mourn and show solidarity with those in Iran. Earlier this week, the SFU Iranian Club held a panel discussion on campus to raise awareness about the situation.

Club members have also attended some of the larger marches thrown in Vancouver, and a coalition of Iranian student groups from universities across the country have issued a statement denouncing the violence.

“The Iranian student associations of various Canadian universities strongly condemn the recent attacks on the university campuses across Iran by the undercover forces of Iran’s regime. This brutal repression reached its peak on Sunday, October 2nd, when the regime’s forces mounted an all-out attack on the main campus of Sharif University of Technology, arresting and injuring dozens of students and staff. However, these arrests have not disheartened the students,” the groups, including the SFU Iranian Club, wrote.

“… Academia is an environment that should be free from any sort of violence and suppression. Freedom of expression and thought should be the fundamental pillars of any institute of higher education. The lack of which defeats the entire purpose of higher learning and academia. We, the Iranian student associations of Canada, firmly stand by our Iranian student peers who have been deprived of their most fundamental and quintessential rights.”

SFU’s vice president of people, equity and inclusion, Yabome Gilpin-Jackson, also issued a statement at the end of September advising Iranian students of the resources available to them.

“My heart is with Iranian members of our SFU community as we continue to witness the impact of Mahsa Amini’s death while in the custody of authorities in Iran,” Gilpin-Jackson wrote.

“On behalf of SFU, I want you to know that we stand in solidarity with all of you in our communities who are impacted by the ongoing situation and share concerns for all Iranians—and especially Iranian women—who are courageously standing up for human rights at their personal costs.”

But Y.A. said her wish is that more non-Iranians, including the global and Western media, use their voices to speak up.

“It’s community trauma, and it’s something that will impact us for our entire life. Because it’s not only just one event, it’s a series of events that we have been tolerating, each one of us, through years. And this one was one of the most brutal attacks on students specifically,” she said.

“Imagine there will be armed forces at Oxford University or Harvard University, because Sharif University is one of the most prestigious universities in Iran. And imagine how the media would cover that, if there were armed forces in Harvard.”

At the crux of the matter for Y.A. is the right of a woman to choose whether she wants to wear the hijab or not. And she believes that for Iranian authorities, the issue is one of control—not just of women, but of the whole population.

“When you put a law on half of the population, which are women, then you can silence them. And then when that half of the population is silenced, it’s easier to silence the men in that population.”