A year since the death of Mahsa Jina Amini and the protests continue. Mahsa was a 22-year-old Kurdish woman killed by the morality police (Ghasht Ershad) in Tehran for apparently not wearing her hijab (headscarf) correctly.

What followed were demonstrations against the Islamic Regime by hundreds of thousands of people in every major city in Iran. Women protested alongside men, burnt their hijabs, publicly cut their hair, and demanded their human rights. The rest of the world reacted in solidarity by holding their own demonstrations and demanding that their governments also take action against the Regime.

Today, demonstrations in Iran may be smaller because of the threat of violent retaliation by the government but the Iranian people continue to be defiant with displays of rebellious street performances, men and women openly mixing together, women still refusing to wear the hijab and more.

So far, the uprising has seen over 600 people killed, according to human rights organisations Amnesty International and Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), including more than 60 children, one as young as nine. Hundreds of protesters have been imprisoned, kidnapped or disappeared; workers' strikes crushed, and reports of riot control chemical munitions used against peaceful protesters by Iran's authorities.

This year, the Iranian authorities have also significantly increased the number of overall executions for all crimes, with at least 282 people executed in total in 2023– this is nearly double the number of executions that were recorded at the beginning of June last year.

Toxic gas attacks on schools have been intensified, and the regime poisoned hundreds of students in a revenge attack on protesters and an attempt to force girls’ schools to close. Attacks on Kurdistan and Baluchistan continue, where members of the political opposition are being arrested and executed.

Recently, the government released a new list of protesters at risk of execution as authorities seek to spread fear among demonstrators, said BBC News. They also have a new law ‘Hijab & Efaf’ that punishes women not wearing a hijab by imposing fines or imprisoning them. Moreover, if anyone sees women not wearing a hijab, allows them into their shops or schools, they too will be charged as having committed a criminal offence, and the shops and institutions closed down.

We at MEWSo call on people to act now to try and stop this brutality by this dangerous regime. You can show solidarity by pressuring your government to:

* Call on Iran to stop executing protesters, stop arresting workers, students and teachers for striking and release all protesters who have been imprisoned.

* Strongly condemn Iran’s abuse and oppression of women and girls.

* Investigate and bring those suspected of crimes against humanity to trial

* Boycott cultural businesses related to the Iranian regime.

* Call on Iran to abolish its policy of executions.

Iran is deliberately and shamelessly abusing, arresting, kidnapping and killing protesters who want to see change in their country. These actions are part of its broader clampdown on freedom of expression, which includes the arrest and detention of more than 40 journalists and the deletion of thousands of Iranians' social media accounts. Women and girls have no rights to wear what they want, hijab or no hijab, or enjoy simple freedoms many in the rest of the world takes for granted.

It’s time to allow the Iranian people the freedom to live their lives as they choose.

Solidarity knows no borders! Their pain is our pain, and their glory can be our glory.