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September 2022 - 2023Reputable source · 2 sourcesWell documented

Mahsa Amini's Death Sparks the Largest Protests in Decades

A young woman detained for her hijab dies in custody, and hundreds of protesters are killed

On the timeline · around September 2022 - 2023 · The Islamic RepublicThe Islamic RepublicMahsa Amini's Death Sparks the Largest Protests in Decades19901995200020052010201520202025

Quick facts

Mahsa Amini's death
September 16, 2022
Movement slogan
"Woman, Life, Freedom"
Documented deaths in crackdown
551, per UN investigators
Provinces affected
26 of 31

What happened

In September 2022, 22-year-old Jina Mahsa Amini died in the custody of Iran's morality police after being arrested in Tehran for allegedly wearing her headscarf improperly. Iranian authorities denied reports that she was beaten, but her death unleashed a wave of protest across Iran under the slogan "Woman, Life, Freedom," with young women and schoolchildren at the forefront of demonstrations that spread to universities, schools, and streets nationwide. A United Nations International Fact-Finding Mission later determined that Amini's death was unlawful and caused by physical violence for which the Iranian state bears responsibility, and documented 551 deaths, including at least 49 women and 68 children, across 26 of Iran's 31 provinces during the government's crackdown on the protests that followed.

Why it matters

The Mahsa Amini protests became the most significant nationwide challenge to the Islamic Republic since its founding in 1979, drawing men and boys into demonstrations alongside women in a direct confrontation with the mandatory hijab laws that had been in place since the revolution. The scale of the crackdown documented by UN investigators, including security forces using firearms at short range against unarmed protesters, renewed international scrutiny of the Islamic Republic's human rights record more than four decades after it came to power.

How we know

The circumstances of Amini's death and the scale of the subsequent crackdown were documented by a UN-mandated International Fact-Finding Mission that interviewed witnesses and reviewed medical and forensic evidence, alongside contemporaneous international news reporting from inside and outside Iran.

Sources

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Mahsa Amini's Death Sparks the Largest Protests in Decades · History of Iran · SourcedStory