Protests erupt in Iran after death of woman arrested for violating dress code

Judy Woodruff:

Anti-government protests have swept across Iran in reaction to the death of a 22-year-old woman in the custody of the regime's morality police.

It happened after she was arrested for not wearing the required hijab, or head covering.

Amna Nawaz is here with more.

Amna Nawaz:

In videos being shared on social media, women are seen leading the protests in Iran, taking off their headscarves, chanting slogans and calling for an end to compulsory hijab.

Is this a turning point for the women's movement there?

To discuss this, I'm being joined now by Iranian-born actor Nazanin Boniadi, an Amnesty International ambassador and a longtime human rights activist for her homeland of Iran.

Nazanin, welcome to the "NewsHour," and thank you for joining us.

After the death of that 22-year-old woman, who, we should note, is named Mahsa Amini, we have seen these protests spread from her homeland, her home province of Kurdistan all the way across the country, dozens of cities now.

Is what we're seeing unfolding now, is it different from previous protests we have seen, for example, back in 2019? What do you see?

Nazanin Boniadi, Actor and Human Rights Advocate: What I see is history repeating itself.

We know we have seen the death of Neda Agha-Soltan. We have seen Pouya Bakhtiari. Have seen Navid Afkari. The list goes on and on. And I think people have just reached their boiling point. A brave Iranian actress from inside Iran, Katayoun Riahi, recently gave an interview where she didn't wear the hijab, in solidarity with Mahsa and this movement.

And she said it best. She said people are no longer fearful of prison because Iran has become a prison itself.

Amna Nawaz:

And, Nazanin, you were born in Tehran just after the revolution. Your family then fled, but you have been a persistent and a vocal critic of the regime from outside the nation.

You stay in touch with many people on the ground, though. What are they telling you about this moment?

Nazanin Boniadi:

You know, I get hundreds of messages from inside Iran every day.

And all they're asking for is solidarity. They're asking for their voices to be amplified. As a longtime human rights activist, as you said, that's the only responsibility I have. As an actress, I feel obligated to the people. I feel responsible to them. They are the ones, the people, who put us in these positions where we have a microphone in our hand and we can communicate to the masses.

The least we can do is stand with them. And I think in this moment in history, we need to remember that, when George Floyd was killed by police in America, there was global solidarity. You saw images from inside Iran, inside Syria, places where they themselves are in dire straits showing solidarity. The least we can do on the West is to show solidarity to the people inside Iran.

Amna Nawaz:

Let me ask you about this enforcement of compulsory hijab inside Iran, because officials there defend it. They say it is part of Iranian culture.

You and many others in the diaspora have taken to social media to dispel that. You have been sharing pictures of your own families before the revolution, before 1979, one of your grandmother, your aunt, your mother, we're seeing there, your mom working in 1975, your parents' wedding.

What is important to understand about the role of hijab in Iran and Iranian culture?

Nazanin Boniadi:

I think, before 1979, when women had the freedom to choose, you saw a coexistence of women who chose to wear the hijab and women who didn't wear the hijab coexisting peacefully together. There was a freedom of choice.

And that's what we're fighting for. I think it — to a call it a cultural dress code of kinds, which the former Foreign Minister Zarif and countless other Iranian officials have tried to sort of tell the wide world, the global public, that's a myth, that's a lie, because what kind of cultural norm has to be controlled through batons and through threats of death and imprisonment?

You don't need to subjugate people for a cultural norm to exist, if the majority of women actually chose the hijab. But what you're seeing is people risking their lives, you're seeing people taking to the streets and risking imprisonment.

And, in Mahsa's case, her head was bludgeoned against a wall, and she went into a coma and died.

Amna Nawaz:

Nazanin, also Iranian President Raisi is going to speak before the United Nations General Assembly in New York this week.

What do you hope other world leaders' message to him will be?

Nazanin Boniadi:

A lot of Iranians will be there, Amna, to protest his presence, a lot of prominent Iranians and Iranians in general.

And what we are hoping is that Western officials, especially women and journalists, when they meet with Raisi in New York, that they don't follow these protocols and these parameters that are being set for them, simply in solidarity with the people of Iran.

You don't need to wear a headscarf out of respect for a man who doesn't respect the rights of his people or women in general.

Amna Nawaz:

Nazanin, you are currently starring in Amazon's "Lord of the Rings" TV series. And when it launched, you said that you were dedicating your work, you were inspired by the brave women in Iran who you said risk everything for a better tomorrow.

How worried are you that they will now face another brutal crackdown, as they have in the past?

Nazanin Boniadi:

I'm extremely worried.

But when people have nothing left to lose, they will risk everything. They have nothing else to risk. So I think that's what we're seeing, is, when authoritative states crack down to this degree, where people feel completely hopeless, and they have nothing left to lose, they will stand up. They will rise.

Amna Nawaz:

That is Nazanin Boniadi, an actor and human rights activist, joining us tonight.

Nazanin, thank you for your time.

Nazanin Boniadi:

Thank you.