The rallying of high school girls to the protest movement in Iran and their courage in distrusting an ultra-conservative regime that had reigned terror for forty-three years took the country’s authorities by surprise. And surprised the world with its rarity and power.
In an article on these teenage girls now leaders of the protest movement, The Guardian recounts the fear, the hesitations and the courage of a new generation determined to do battle with a power that has deprived them of all freedom, and which silences and assassinates dissenting voices.
In a video posted on social networks and relayed by the BBC, bareheaded schoolgirls are thus seen shouting “freedom, freedom, freedom” in the town of Sanandadj, in the north-west of the country, while a man shouts “death to the dictator”.
The Guardian explains how the death of Nika Shakarami, a 16-year-old schoolgirl who was allegedly tortured and killed by the authorities – constituted a “turning point” for these teenage girls who have been protesting relentlessly for a week.
The day after her death was announced, Elnaz, a 16-year-old high school student close to Nika, arrived at school to find a small group of friends gathered in the yard, bareheaded and shouting: “Death to the dictator”:
“I was in tears when I saw them. […] I felt like I was betraying Nika’s memory by not doing more to express my anger. So I took off my headscarf and joined them.”
Since then, Elnaz has participated in all rallies, sit-ins and demonstrations:
“We want the religious to get the hell out. Our mothers didn’t have the internet to tell the world what they went through, but we did. I am here for Nika and for all the other Iranian sisters who lost their lives.”
“I am not afraid”
The death of another teenager, 16-year-old Sarina Esmailzadeh – who was also allegedly killed by the authorities – has further inflamed the anger of high school girls and galvanized their movement, explains The Guardian.
“She was just like Nika – fearless, determined, and wanted us to join the fight for Mahsa”says Naznin, a 16-year-old girl living in the city of Rasht, in northwestern Iran.
The New York-based CHRI shared a video on Twitter showing Sarina Esmailzadeh in a video posted in May 2022, where she explained regret “to be born in Iran”.
Every day, videos showing students across the country waving their headscarves in the air and shouting defiant slogans have gone viral. “Many Iranians were surprised to see schoolgirls emerge as a driving force of protest,” highlighted The Guardian.
Last week, images and videos of a group of schoolgirls giving the middle finger to the portrait of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in their school class in Karaj, about 30 kilometers from Tehran, had made the rounds of social networks. Images disseminated in particular by The Telegraph United Kingdom.
For Naznin, the wall of fear has now fallen. And there will be no turning back, she says. “A lot of blood has been shed […] I’m not afraid because I have nothing to lose. If I don’t join the protests […] we will all die anyway like Mahsa.”