عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
World

Mahsa Amini’s Death Is a ‘Tipping Point’, Says US-Based Iranian Journalist

Iranian dissident Masih Alinejad hold up a photo of an Iranian woman who was killed during the current protest in Iran as speaks during an interview with The Associated Press, Friday, Sept. 23, 2022, in New York. (AP)
Iranian dissident Masih Alinejad hold up a photo of an Iranian woman who was killed during the current protest in Iran as speaks during an interview with The Associated Press, Friday, Sept. 23, 2022, in New York. (AP)
TT
20
TT

Mahsa Amini’s Death Is a ‘Tipping Point’, Says US-Based Iranian Journalist

Iranian dissident Masih Alinejad hold up a photo of an Iranian woman who was killed during the current protest in Iran as speaks during an interview with The Associated Press, Friday, Sept. 23, 2022, in New York. (AP)
Iranian dissident Masih Alinejad hold up a photo of an Iranian woman who was killed during the current protest in Iran as speaks during an interview with The Associated Press, Friday, Sept. 23, 2022, in New York. (AP)

Masih Alinejad, a US-based Iranian journalist and women's rights activist, said the protests erupting in dozens of cities over the death of young Iranian woman Mahsa Amini in police custody is a "tipping point" for Iran.

"For the Islamic Republic, the murder of Mahsa Amini is becoming a tipping point because compulsory hijab is not just a small piece of cloth," Alinejad told Reuters on Tuesday in New York. "It's like the Berlin Wall. And if Iranian women manage to tear this wall down, the Islamic Republic won't exist."

Amini, 22, from the northwestern Kurdish city of Saqez, was arrested on Sept. 13 in Tehran for "unsuitable attire" by the morality police who enforce the country's strict dress code. She died three days later in hospital after falling into a coma, sparking the first big show of opposition on Iran's streets since authorities crushed protests against a rise in gasoline prices in 2019.

Police say she fell ill as she waited with other detained women.

"This movement is the result of 40 years of women fighting back, pushing back the boundaries," Alinejad said. "I get goosebumps because when I launched the campaign against compulsory hijab, I never thought that this is going to happen while I'm alive."

Alinejad started a social media campaign in 2014 encouraging women in Iran to share self-portraits without the veil, which she then shares on her Facebook page, "My Stealthy Freedom."

Amini's death has drawn widespread international condemnation while Iran has blamed "thugs" linked to "foreign enemies" for the unrest. Tehran has accused the United States and some European countries of using the unrest to try to destabilize the country.

Most Viewed

 
World

Iran Downplays ‘Snapback’ Threat, Reserves Right to Respond

A photo released by the Iranian Parliament’s website of one of its meetings.
A photo released by the Iranian Parliament’s website of one of its meetings.
TT
20
TT

Iran Downplays ‘Snapback’ Threat, Reserves Right to Respond

A photo released by the Iranian Parliament’s website of one of its meetings.
A photo released by the Iranian Parliament’s website of one of its meetings.

Iran sought on Friday to play down the potential impact of the so-called “snapback” mechanism, which allows for the automatic reimposition of United Nations sanctions on Tehran over its nuclear program, unless a diplomatic solution is reached by the end of August.

Hossein-Ali Haji Deligani, a member of the Iranian parliament’s Article 90 Committee, dismissed the measure as largely symbolic, describing it as “a weapon without bullets” that carries more psychological than practical weight.

Speaking to the Tasnim news agency, affiliated with the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, Deligani argued that Britain, Germany, and France had already exhausted the tool in previous rounds of pressure, leaving it with “no new capacity to inflict damage” on Iran’s economy.

Under UN Security Council Resolution 2231, which enshrines the 2015 nuclear deal and expires in October, any signatory may reimpose sanctions. Neither China nor Russia would be able to block the step, which obliges all UN member states to enforce restrictions on uranium enrichment and ballistic missile development.

However, Deligani noted that many of these provisions had already been applied for years, and the snapback would not extend to Iranian oil or medicine exports.

China pushes back

Beijing, meanwhile, expressed firm opposition to the European move. Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian reiterated China’s preference for a political and diplomatic solution, rejecting the use of sanctions as leverage.

The statement came in response to an AFP inquiry following remarks by Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, who said Tehran was working with both China and Russia to prevent the Europeans from restoring sanctions lifted under the 2015 accord.

European ultimatum

Earlier this week, the foreign ministers of Britain, France, and Germany sent a joint letter to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and the Security Council, warning that they would invoke the snapback unless Iran complies with its nuclear commitments by the end of August.

They stressed their determination to use “all available diplomatic tools” to ensure Iran does not develop nuclear weapons.

In an interview with Iranian state television, Araghchi called the threat “negative” and vowed to resist. “If they proceed, we have tools to respond, and we will reveal them in due time,” he said.

While acknowledging that renewed sanctions could complicate matters, he downplayed fears of significant economic fallout.

Last month, he wrote to the UN arguing that the European trio lacked the legitimacy to trigger the mechanism, a claim the three foreign ministers firmly rejected in their latest letter.