Mahsa Amini

Mahsa Amini
مهسا امینی
Amini
Born	(1999-09-21)21 September 1999 Saqqez, Iran
Died	16 September 2022(2022-09-16) (aged 22) Tehran, Iran
Resting place	Aychi Cemetery, Saqqez
Other names	Jina Amini
Known for	Death in police custody
Awards	Sakharov Prize (posthumous, 2023)

Mahsa Amini (Persian: مهسا امینی; 21 September 1999 – 16 September 2022), also known as Jina Amini (Kurdish: ژینا ئەمینی, romanized: Jîna Emînî), was a Kurdish-Iranian woman whose arrest in Tehran for opposing mandatory hijab and subsequent death in police custody sparked a wave of protests throughout Iran. People and governments around the world reacted widely to her death. Her death sparked widespread protest in Iranian society, resulting in major protests in various cities in Iran and acts of solidarity around the world. Amini's death ignited the global Woman, Life, Freedom movement - "Woman, Life, Freedom", which demands the end of compulsory hijab laws and other forms of discrimination and oppression against women in Iran. She and the movement were selected as candidates for the Sakharov Prize in 2023 by European Parliament for defending freedom and human rights.

Early life

Mahsa Jina Amini was born on 21 September 1999 to a Kurdish family in Saqqez, Kurdistan Province, in northwestern Iran. While Mahsa was her legal given name, her Kurdish name was Jina (also spelled Zhina), and was the name she was known as to her family. In Persian "Mahsa" means "similar to the moon" and in Kurdish, Jina means "life" or "a life-giving person".

Amini attended Hijab Secondary School, and in 2015, she would attend Taleghani High School to earn a diploma. She would be admitted to university in 2022. She aspired to become a doctor. Before starting university, she travelled to Tehran with her parents and 17-year-old brother, Ashkan, to visit relatives.

Family

Amjad Amini, Mahsa Amini's Father

Solidarity with Iranian Protests in Melbourne

Her mother was an active member of the Parents and Teachers Association for three years in Shahrak Elementary School, Hijab Secondary School and Taleghani High School. She had one younger brother, Kiarash (Ashkan). Her father, Amjad Amini, is an employee in a government organization and her mother, Mojgan Amini, is a housewife. She had several cousins, some of which lived in different countries. One of them was Erfan Mortezaei, a left-wing political activist belonging to the Komala Party and a Peshmerga fighter living in self-exile in Iraqi Kurdistan, who was the first member of Amini's family to speak to the media after her death. Despite Mortezaei's political affiliations, he has challenged claims by the Iranian government that Amini herself was involved in any politics. Instead, Amini has been described as having been a "shy, reserved resident" of her hometown who avoided politics, with Amini being reported as never being politically active as a teenager, and as not being an activist. Another cousin, Dyako Mohammadi, lives in Norway and spoke to media there about Amini. Amini's family have described her as having no prior health conditions, and as being a "healthy" 22 year old, contrasting the claims made by the Iranian government that she possessed prior health conditions. Her uncle Safa was arrested a few days before her death anniversary.

Perspectives and personality

According to those who knew her closely, Mahsa Jina Amini was a quiet, reserved citizen. She avoided politics and activism, and did not follow the news. She did not have many friends and mostly socialized with her relatives.

She wished to become a doctor. At school, she was admired by her teachers as a model student.

Mahsa Amini Livery taken at Tokyo Haneda Airport on the Barcelona soccer team's private jet

She spent two years preparing for her college entrance exams and temporarily set aside her ambition to become a doctor. She had enrolled at a university Urmia and planned to study biology. She belonged to a moderately religious, middle-class family that cherished their children.

Opposing hijab

For Mahsa Jina Amini, as can be seen from her photos and videos on social media, only the mandatory rules made her wear hijab half-heartedly. She did not observe the hijab in various events such as weddings and wore traditional Kurdish clothes that do not have a hijab. She also partially observed hijab when traveling to tourist areas. This issue caused the moral security officers to arrest her and beat her. This also caused people, especially women and girls, to join her and put away their hijab.

Death

Main articles: Death of Mahsa Amini and Mahsa Amini protests

"Woman, life, freedom"; the main slogan of the protesters

Amini was arrested by Guidance Patrol officers around 6 p.m. on September 13, 2022, near Haqqani metro station on Haqqani Highway in Tehran, while she was with her brother. After he protested, he was told that she had been transferred to the detention center to pass a "briefing class" and would be released in an hour. Eyewitnesses reported that she was beaten in the Guidance Patrol vehicle and detention center. Amini's uncle said that a fight broke out during her detention and that authorities had beaten her brother:

Two hours after Amini's arrest and transfer to Tehran's morality police, she was admitted to the intensive care unit of Kasra Hospital. While her brother was waiting for her in front of the detention center building, he saw an ambulance leaving the building. He asked one of the soldiers about the cause of the ambulance leaving the building and was told that "one of the soldiers was injured". After showing his sister's photo to other girls released from the detention center, he discovered that the ambulance was carrying his sister.

Amini died three days later, on 16 September, at Kasra Hospital. "She was perfectly healthy before she was arrested," Amini's mother said shortly before her daughter's death.

Several of the detainees, who were in the same patrol car with Amini, confirmed in interviews the physical violence and severe beatings of police against Amini, which fractured her skull, and they also said that police were late in taking Amini to the hospital. Amini's cousin accompanied her when going to shops and parks, and said the police officers who arrested Amini had a camera with them.

"Woman, life, freedom"; One of the main slogans of the protesters. People gather in Melbourne, their thousands, for a second rally in a week to stand in solidarity with the Iranian protests

On the morning of 17 September, Amini's body was transferred to Saqqez and she was buried in Aichi Cemetery with a large turnout as well as security forces. While security forces intended to bury her at night without the presence of the people, they prevented her family from seeing her. On the day of the burial, the police blocked the roads leading to the city of Saqqez to prevent more people from attending. Protesters at her funeral chanted slogans such as "Death to the dictator".

Woman, Life, Freedom movement

Main article: Woman, Life, Freedom

The Woman, Life, Freedom movement began as a response to her death, as the organizations The Covenant and Neighborhood youth alliance called for actions on social media.

Protesters, along with the celebrities Marion Cotillard, Hande Yener, Juliette Binoche and politicians Abir Al-Sahlani and Hadja Lahbib would cut their hair. Women across Iran would remove and burn headscarves to protest the mandatory hijab.

2024 United Nations Human Rights Council report

In a report released on 8 March 2024, the United Nations Human Rights Council concluded that Amini's death was caused by physical violence she suffered while in morality police custody. The report found Iran responsible for her death and claimed the government had attempted to hide the truth and intimidate Amini's family rather than conduct an impartial investigation.

Memorials

Mural with the faces of Mahsa Jina Amini, Nika Shakarami, Fereshteh Ahmadi, and Sarina Esmaielzahdeh in Jerusalem

On Twitter, the hashtags "#مهسا_امینی" and "#MahsaAmini" have been used over 200 million times since her death. There are squares, streets, and parks that were named after her in cities such as London, Ottawa, Paris, and Vienna.

In United States Congress, the MAHSA Act legislation was named in honor of her and other protesters fighting for freedom and democracy in Iran.

Several murals were created of Amini, including in Argentina, Brunswick, Dublin, Edmonton, Haifa, Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Los Angeles, Melbourne, Sydney, Richmond, San Francisco, Toronto, and Washington D.C.

Academic Scholarships and Awards

The following scholarship have been established in memory of Mahsa Amini

1. Mahsa Amini Graduate Fellowship at Columbia University in the City of New York School of Engineering and Applied Sciences Eligible students will have lived or studied in Iran and have overcome systemic challenges, such as gender-based or other obstacles, in their academic pursuits. In the absence of eligible students from Iran in any year, the fellowship may be awarded to students who have lived or studied in the following countries: Afghanistan, Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. First scholarship was awarded in 2023.
2. Mahsa Amini Graduate Fellowship at University of California Santa Barbara This Fund support qualified graduate students in a UC Santa Barbara doctoral program who have matriculated from an Iranian institution where they received a bachelor’s degree in something other than a STEM discipline. First scholarship was awarded in 2024.
3. Women Life Freedom Scholarship at Dalhousie University Eligible candidates are first year masters or PhD at Dalhousie who are from Iran and self-identify as a woman or another equity-deserving gender identity.
4. Mahsa Amini Scholarship at University of Windsor In order to qualify, students must be a Masters level or PhD level. A Minimum cumulative average of 80% is required. The scholarship is open to all students, across all Faculties, with a preference to support International Students.
5. Mahsa Amini Scholarship at Dawson College Eligible candidates are international students or refugee in financial need or in need of extra financial support. Priority is given to candidates who identify as women or non-binary people.
6. Mahsa Jina Amini Fellowship at Cambridge Middle East and North Africa Forum
7. The Mahsa Amini Award at Marist College The Mahsa Amini award aims to promote humanity and freedom by supporting freedom activists across the globe, regardless of their nationality, gender, religion, sexual orientation, country of origin, age, political party, etc.
8. Dear Elnaz Graduate Fellowship at University of Alberta From fellowship page: "Elnaz Nabiyi was a passenger of the Ukrainian Airliner Flight PS752 which was shot down by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps of the government of Iran on January 8, 2020. Elnaz, a keen advocate of educational advancement and freedom of choice, was a Ph.D. student at the University of Alberta at the time of the downing of Flight PS752. On September 16, 2022, Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish Iranian girl was killed in the custody of Iran's morality police in Tehran, for not properly wearing a compulsory hijab. In Iran, the slogan "Women, Life, Freedom" was first used at Mahsa's burial and later followed through nationwide protests against the totalitarian regime of Iran."

Non-Academic Scholarships

• Mahsa Zhina Amini Fellowship at RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty

Anniversary

On 15 and 16 September 2023, security forces were positioned in Tehran and other cities like Saqqez the birth-place of Mahsa Jina Amini as Iran marked one year since her death. Amini's father was detained while exiting the family home in the western town of Saqqez and then released after being warned not to hold the memorial service. Reports also indicated an increased security presence in other cities in an effort to prevent any unrest. Iranians abroad staged a demonstration in Brussels on Friday and more were expected to be held elsewhere in Europe, in addition to Canada and the United States. The US, along with the European Union and the United Kingdom, separately announced new sanctions on a number of Iranian officials and entities on the eve of Amini's death anniversary.

MAHSA Act

Main article: MAHSA Act

In the United States, the Mahsa Amini Human rights and Security Accountability Act (MAHSA Act) is a bill that was first introduced to the 117th Congress in the wake of the Woman, Life, Freedom protests. Its intention is to put sanctions on the leaders of the Islamic Republic of Iran. The bill was reintroduced as H.R. 589 to the House of Representatives and as S.2626 to the Senate in the 118th Congress.

Statements

US President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in two separate messages on the occasion of the anniversary of Mahsa Jina Amini's death in the custody of the morality police of Iran that they will continue to stand by the people of Iran. Linda Thomas-Greenfield issued a statement on the occasion of Mahsa Amini's death anniversary, saying:

Mahsa "Gina" Amini's life was tragically cut short, but her courage inspired a movement that will continue against the unprecedented brutality of the Iranian regime. In the months since her death, tens of thousands of ordinary Iranians—led by other brave Iranian women—have come together to protest with a simple message: "Women, life, freedom". Today, the United States announced new sanctions against 29 Iranian individuals and entities involved in repression and violence against protesters, prisoner abuse, and censorship.

Sakharov Prize

Members of the European Parliament have awarded the 2023 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought to Jina Mahsa Amini and the Woman, Life, Freedom movement

Members of the European Parliament have awarded the 2023 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought to Mahsa Jina Amini and the Woman, Life, Freedom movement. President Roberta Metsola declared:

On 16 September we marked one year since the murder of Jina Mahsa Amini in Iran. The European Parliament proudly stands with the brave and defiant who continue to fight for equality, dignity and freedom in Iran. We stand with those who, even from prison, continue to keep Women, Life and Freedom alive. By choosing them as laureates for the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought 2023, this House remembers their struggle and continues to honour all those who have paid the ultimate price for liberty.

According to their lawyer, Amini's family were prevented from flying to the award ceremony after their passports were confiscated despite holding valid visas.

2024 Anniversary

On the second anniversary of Mahsa Amini's death, women in Iran are trying hard to appear in public without the mandatory hijab. Mahsa Amini's family are performing the ceremonies of her death anniversary at her house and also at her grave in Aychi cemetery of Saqqez, but they and people from her birth town are still under pressure from the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran to not perform these ceremonies. A number of people and human right and civil activists were arrested, especially in Kurdish cities, and security measures were increased by the Iranian government police.

See also

• Human rights in Iran
• List of famous Persian women
• Women's rights in Iran
• 1979 International Women's Day protests in Tehran
• Sarina Esmailzadeh
• Nika Shakarami
• Hadis Najafi
• Death of Armita Geravand