The Iranian women defying the law

0:00This is The Guardian.

0:08Today, women riding motorbikes and dancing in the streets. Has the Iranian regime lost its power?

0:24Sitting on that airplane, getting closer and closer to Tehran, I think that's when all the feelings started coming. I was very nervous. Earlier this year, Iranian photojournalist Kiana Hayeri flew home to Iran for the first time in three years. The hijab is mandatory in Iran, and Kiana knew wearing it to go through arrivals was essential. I wore the headscarf and the dress that I was wearing as I left three years ago, so I was wearing the same thing. At the airport, I was shocked. My friend walked up to the checkpoint where traditionally we used to wear our hijab tighter and she was wearing nothing.

1:04She was wearing no hijab. She was wearing a shirt and pants. My friend took me directly from the airport to center of Tehran to this one specific street where a lot of young people go to hang out, to go to cafes and restaurants. And she took me straight there. And I was so overwhelmed with what I saw. It felt surreal. Because no one was wearing hijab, I could see belly button, I could see very modern girls made up in the cafe.

1:35The last time Kiana was in Iran's capital three years ago, the Women Life Freedom protests had just begun. They were sparked by the death of Masa Hamini, a young Kurdish woman who'd been picked up by the morality police for infractions of the hijab law and who died in police custody. Those protests became the biggest anti-government demonstrations in decades, until the regime hit back. Hundreds were killed. It seemed like the protest movement had been brutally crushed and silenced.

2:11Yet in the past few weeks, social media has been flooded with videos of women out on the streets of Tehran, bareheaded and defiant.

2:31The videos seem to show a new era for women in Iran. But do they tell the whole story?

2:42I only see this as a temporary pause in repression. In open repression, might I say, because they still continue to oppress people and arrest people and execute. The repression has become more targeted, silent and covert. From The Guardian, I'm Annie Kelly. Today in Focus. Three years since the Women Life Freedom Movement was crushed, has its legacy transformed Iran?

3:14Kiana, can you tell me a bit about what it was like growing up in Tehran in the 1990s? I think anybody who grew up in Iran can agree with me that you very quickly learn the art of having multiple different lives. So at home, we lived a certain lifestyle. My dad drank. We would listen to music, which at the time was a bit of taboo. As a teenager, we would go to parties, mix parties, and that was like really pushing the boundaries. And at school, we learned that there are certain things you don't talk about. I remember my parents had a massive collection of cassettes, but all of them had the same cover.

3:49just so people can tell what's the original. So you learn that and you master the art very quickly to keep these lives very separate. And were you wearing the hijab when you were young as well? Yes, by the time I reached teenage years, I had scarf. But it's funny, like I think all of us, we find ways to resist and to rebel as a teenager like everybody would do around the world. then there was a period that I decided to wear a dolly as a headscarf. A dolly like a like a lacy. Yeah, dolly is the thing the grandmothers make. They put it on their TV. I thought you meant that. I was like, wow. So you wore like a big lace dolly on your head.

4:30It wasn't big. It was actually quite small. Yes, I wore a very small dolly on my head as a scarf just for the sake of being different. Looking back, I laugh at my choice, but that's how I decided to like rebel against this thing that has to go on my head. Were you aware of the restrictions that were being placed on you? No, honestly, because that's how we were brought up and that's how we were conditioned to see everything. If anything, year after year, I felt we had more freedom. Yes, I had to wear a job, but I was never bothered by it. All I knew as a young person is there are certain things that we do that you don't talk about it publicly.

5:08I think that's the only way that I experienced it. And sometimes I couldn't make sense. I was like, why this cassette has to be hidden? I don't understand. Like for my high school, I did a test and I had to do an interview. And in the interview, they asked me what book I'm reading. And I was reading a very political French book. And I said, and I remember my mom elbowed me really hard. It's like, why would you say that? I couldn't understand why I can't talk about the book that I'm reading at home. So Kiana, you moved to Canada when you were a teenager, although you've gone back and forth a lot since then.

5:39And now you're a photojournalist who who documents women's rights violations around the world. So what was it like watching the Women's Life Freedom movement erupt from afar? It's not the first time as an Iranian we witness movements happening in Iran and the movement gets crushed. As somebody who lives abroad, who is in exile, you sit behind a screen and you watch it unfold. It's very frustrating. It comes with a complex set of feelings. There's a bit of hope. There is a lot of sadness, there is frustration, there is anger, and then there's a bit of hope again. What felt different was how widespread it was this time.

6:24Nationwide protests sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini. At her funeral, women whipped off their headscarves and burned them in solidarity. Anger over Amini's death sparked a women's uprising like no other. Protests quickly spread and have evolved into one of the most serious... I could see everyone around me getting involved in one way or another. Women live freedom! From London. Freedom! And Istanbul. Women live freedom! To Berlin. Iran! And all across the United States. Say her name! You saw the Women Live Freedom movement emerge, gain pace, be brutally repressed. Yeah, this was a movement that was brutally crushed on the street.

7:10More than 500 protesters were killed and over 20 ,000 arrested. Many protesters lost their eyes after being shot directly with metal pellets. But I think what was beautiful about it, that it continued to live on social media. This young girl called Mahsa Amini, she was driving... In people's homes and in their minds. We are still fighting. Mahsa became a symbol of resistance, symbol of revolution.

7:44I arrived to Tehran to a society that was more awake than ever before, but also more broken. The change has happened in people's mind, and that's what has been different this time. And I witnessed that in the men in my dad's side of the family who are religious and they're believers, but watching how they have changed and how they treat their daughters and their wives and the rights that they've given them. It was unbelievable. One of the experiences that I had that really, really shocked me is I have a friend who has been in detention in the past for her activities and her work. And when I met with her, I was in shock to see that she wore a shirt and pants and no hijab.

8:30She has a daughter herself. Her daughter is eight or nine years old now. And she was telling me about the fear she had when this movement started. She started pushing first, dropping her hijab and then completely removing it. And how she was talking about the fear she had when she was on the streets, when she goes to work, she doesn't wear hijab anymore. But she told me as she was passing all these fears that she had, all these anxieties she felt, she constantly repeated, I'm doing this for my daughter. I'm doing this for my daughter. I'm doing this for, and that's powerful. Yeah, it's really moving.

9:02You said that you'd seen those attitudes change within your own family. Yes. One of my cousins married into a very religious family. She was married to a man that at the beginning didn't want her to work, wanted her to cover up everywhere she goes. and they have a daughter. She's 14 now. And I learned her father, her very religious, strict father have come such a long way that allowed her teenage daughter to go to a mixed summer camp this summer. And for me, knowing him, where he comes from, how strict and how religious and how conservative he was when he married into our family, it's a long way to come.

9:44And it's been only three years. And also I've heard she wears crop tops now around her father. Her father apparently sometimes like, please. And then she would like, you know, she doesn't change. She's unapologetic. She just like pulls down her crop top a little bit, but two minutes of it, it's back up, right? Like daughters all around the world. That's the same in my own house.

10:13so Kiana since the revolution in the 70s women in Iran have lived under really strict so-called morality laws but in recent months I've seen loads of social media videos that seem to be flouting them with women riding mopeds like mixed dance parties on the streets women singing to crowds of onlookers. Is that what you saw when you were back? Yes. So I also saw a lot of women on motorbikes. You do see women performing on the street, playing instruments and not wearing hijab. And there's also a wave of underground cinema that is happening in Iran, where people are making films, knowing that it will never be screened inside Iran and they send it outside without women wearing hijab.

11:02So a real movement. And that's a very short amount of time that that's happened. It is. But again, I would say the seats were laid many, many, many years ago. And it's interesting what you said as well about the difference. You know, we've seen people say, well, these videos aren't really representational. They're just coming out of a couple of really affluent neighbourhoods in the north of Tehran where you can buy yourself out of trouble. But you're painting a very different picture. I disagree. It's very widespread in Tehran and it's not related to how much money you have. One example that I can give you, I was in my apartment complex and I got on the elevator.

11:34A woman got into the elevator. She was wearing a hijab. I was wearing a dress, no headscarf, nothing around me. And she looked at me. She said something to her employer who was outside of the elevator and that the elevator closed. She was a caretaker for an elderly. The moment the elevator closed, she took her hijab and she dropped it. And she said, you know, this is a new job that I just applied for. And that's why I'm wearing a hijab. But when I'm in my own neighbourhood, and definitely she's not coming from an affluent neighbourhood, I don't wear hijab. And she said it was such a proud. And I was like, oh.

12:12Almost all of these videos are coming out of Tehran, the capital city. And at the moment, it's not really clear if this is also happening in other parts of the country. But despite this very open defiance that we're seeing in these videos, there are still reports of women being arrested for not wearing the hijab or dressing inappropriately, including in Tehran. So what do you think is going on with the regime's response to what's happening in the streets? It's very complex in the sense of, historically speaking, many things have always been banned in Iran on paper. And the brave people are the first ones who break these rules.

12:51But then once it becomes vast and wide across the society, at some point, they give up on arresting everyone. So you think that this is here to stay, but it's going to last? I think we're all, we're seeing a progression. Like it might not be a straight line. There might be like bumps throughout, but we're going forward. And there's no, from this point on, there is no going back. Because once, especially the young generation, especially Gen Z, once they have certain freedom, you cannot take it back from them. So you can't put it back in the box? No. And how does that make you feel? This change makes me very happy.

13:32We live in a very dark world at the moment. It gives me hope. At the same time, I'm heartbroken and devastated about all the crises that is happening in Iran, the war this summer on Iran, the economy crisis, the water crisis that is happening in Iran. So there are many, many crises, but this gives me hope. And I think about if my mom was here today, I imagine her, I imagine her on the street and how she would dress. She never wore hijab by her choice. She was forced to do that. And I just imagine her and I imagine the next generation coming, my friend's daughter and how they're going to live in 10 years and the choices they're going to have.

14:11And just the bravery of it. Oh my God, they are so brave. I think about my friend every day as somebody who has been, had been arrested before, who had been through this process, like to do that for your daughter, that's courage.

14:31Deeper Parent, you report on Iran for The Guardian. As someone who has reported throughout all of the Women Life Freedom protests, what do you make of these social media videos? It's been confirmed that these videos are real. They do show that women are walking around without a hijab. However, they don't capture the whole picture. There's been a huge wave of executions this year. One human rights group said the executions were at 1 ,500, making Iran the biggest executor of its own people of any country. That includes more women, and more women are being given death sentences. And the sharp rise in executions in Iran has sparked international concern with the UN urging the country to reconsider its use of the death penalty.

15:18Well, United Nations Human Rights Office has reported that Iran has carried out at least 800 executions. There's also been a wave of political arrests, a real crackdown since the war with Israel. And while they haven't moved to make mass arrests over mandatory hijab, they have been targeting families of protesters that are killed during the Women's Life Freedom Movement. Right. And that's interesting what you were saying about the crackdown since the 12-day war with Israel earlier this year. I saw that the United Nations condemned Iran for what they call a surge of repression against its own people.

15:51And as you said, there's been a huge spike in executions by the regime. And have you been speaking to any of your contacts inside Iran about this? So, yes, I've been I've been speaking to activists and women like freedom protesters, especially young women under 25 who were leading the protests, university students. they are cautiously optimistic for sure these images are real women are pushing the boundaries and you can see there's a change in the streets of Tehran however when I say cautiously optimistic I also want to point out that recently I've received messages from Bomber Life Freedom protesters who've asked me to avoid sending them texts or calling them and to just go quiet because they were summoned by the intelligence office.

16:36So there's really a targeted, covert kind of suppression happening. On the surface, it looks like they're progressive, but behind the scenes, this is happening. And journalists have also reported they're receiving calls from private numbers and they're being summoned over social media posts or a variety of protests and even for liking posts.

17:05Yeah, and when you look at the defiance that we're seeing on the streets, it does feel particularly brave because haven't the hijab laws actually been tightened in the last couple of years? Yes, yes. After 2024, based on the new law, they added tougher penalties like long prison sentences, heavy penalties and restrictions on jobs and education. And when that came in, I reported on the immediate crackdown. There were more surveillance cameras that were being used in public transport. Women's cars were being confiscated for not wearing a hijab. And we also saw these visuals and these videos that went viral of women being violently dragged into vans by the morality police.

17:51so i think i think it's important to say that this isn't just about the hijab anymore we're seeing mixed groups of people also young men pushing boundaries in public in ways that simply was not seen a few years ago this regime does not represent the values and and morals of the it really does show how um how woman life freedom has really changed people's attitudes and although they were resisting, we cannot deny how different the society is at this point of time than it was before 2022. To see these young people who are fully aware of how risky it is to go out on the streets and sing and how risky it is to continue resisting, I just think they've reached a point that they are ready to pay the price on whatever it takes.

18:42I just hope they're safe while they're doing it. Coming up, the cracks appearing in Iran's regime.

19:15And in very exciting news, you can also watch the latest from Today in Focus on YouTube.

19:29Deepa, it sounds like the young women who've been defying the hijab laws recently have been getting away with it. But do they think it's going to last? They definitely accept that the morality police has gone down quite a lot. But they are not fooled. They told me very clearly that we are not fooled at these attempts by the Islamic Republic authorities because they know that even in the past, there have been times where the government has allowed these kind of videos to go out or have paused on moral policing. It's never going away. Okay, so why do you think the authorities are turning a blind eye now?

20:05So after the 12-day war with Israel, the Islamic Republic seems to be, according to a lot of analysts, at one of its weakest points. Israel, with U.S. support, launched more than 500 airstrikes against Iran. They hit military, nuclear and energy sites, but also civilian targets, including hospitals. More than 600 people were killed. And the authorities have seen consistent resistance from different groups, from musicians, from lawyers, from medical workers because of the labor conditions. So they see all these protests popping up, not only in Tehran, across the country. There are entrepreneurs in the bazaar who are also protesting.

20:46They went out on strike, steelworkers out on strike. There was trucker strike just a few months ago. So they're facing growing resistance and protest from different sections of the society. The economy is in terrible shape. In a country already struggling under decades of sanctions, the recent war with Israel has hurt Iranian businesses. Inflation is extremely high. Iran's currency has plunged to over a million rials to the dollar on the free market. And people are really unhappy and are suffering. Removing any number of zeros will not have any effect on the country's inflation. The root of inflation is elsewhere.

21:24What is bothering our people now is inflation, not a few zeros. And then there's an ongoing water crisis. Iran is facing its worst water crisis in decades, with officials warning the country's capital, Tehran, may soon be uninhabitable if drought conditions continue. Years of drought, mismanagement, overuse have left rivers and aquifers depleted. So whole regions are facing shortages. Farmers cannot irrigate their land. And there have been protests in those areas where drinking water is running out. Wow. OK, so it's really serious. Yes, it is indeed. So they're fighting all of these multiple crises all at once.

22:02Are they simply unable to stop what we're seeing on the streets? Absolutely. I also do strongly believe that in this weak position, the government cannot risk another woman life freedom uprising. So one argument is that they're allowing these infractions because they are not strong enough right now to suppress them the way they have before. OK, and are the authorities reacting at all to these videos and this very public flouting of their rules? Yes, they are. However, what we are seeing is that the regime doesn't really have a coordinated or coherent response. So President Peseshkian has neither implemented or ratified the new hijab law.

22:42He also said it was too difficult to enforce it and that it will lead to widespread discontent in the Iranian society. But at the same time, there are conservative factions within the system that are pushing for a crackdown. The Islamic Republic's current Supreme Leader, Khamenei, has repeatedly emphasised the importance of hijab. He also recently, just a few weeks ago, in an address, he said, remind the women around you to view hijab as a religious and Islamic matter. So there's a clear split in how different parts of the establishment want to handle it. Right. So you've got the Supreme Leader who's saying it's as central as ever to the Islamic Republic, but the president saying it's too hard to enforce the hijab laws.