IamA 22 year old girl in Iran where they killed Mahsa Amini and people are protesting against the regime.AMA!

What are you most hopeful of and what are you most fearful of in these moments?

First, let me say this. Most of my generation felt like they don't have a home or country. We hated where we live and what happened to us, (the influencers and celebrities that are benefiting from what is happening always told us we are the problem and everything that is happening to us is our fault. But this time we said No. we are not the problem and how dare you shame the victims. so we boycott them). But right now for the first time, we feel like we belong to something, to somewhere, and to each other. This is our biggest victory.

We are hopeful to win this time and have the freedom to be able to just live, to don't have to watch they destroy any more life, river, jungle or family.

What we fear is that if we fail we all know there will be a massive execution, they will try to kill or arrest anyone they can and definitely make these so-called police stronger and maybe this will be our last chance.

Are there specific influencers or celebrities that are most problematic that we should make sure to boycott with you? Or is it any famous person in Iran right now?

they are Iranian rappers, bloggers, actors, football players and ...

they already lost their followers and fame.

How are older women in Iran responding to your protests? The pictures we see are mainly of younger women.

It's hard to admit but they are less active in these protests. Not that they are not any older women but they mostly say that it doesn't work like any other time that we tried or don't risk your life just leave the country.

They aren't in favor of the regime but they are more suppressed. Young people are more fearless. especially "the 80s people" (it's like gen z but in the Iranian calendar from 1380 til 1389) that are between 12-21 years old.

First of all, please stay safe in this dangerous time. The world stands behind your people.

Do you feel the majority of the country is unified in this cause?

Yes, I know we are.

The regime is a murderer and a joke at the same time.

Yesterday they organized a protest against the protest. They didn't even have a decent population in protest and they had to use old images and videos in their media. ( We saw the banner about something else, we saw people wearing jackets in 37 Celcius in the summer and they even show choosing between old videos.)

What we are afraid of are their guns and soldiers. But even the people who believe in the regime, are old ones with wrong belief systems that we gave up on them) or chameleons that they care about which side is only best for them.

Soldiers also have mothers and sisters. Are there soldiers that are on your side?

No. An old woman in the protest said to a soldier I'm like your mother, don't shoot and he said "no you are not even my mom's socks."

(It's even meaningless in Persian. Don't try to understand what they say)

Other iranian amas have said they think this is the revolution. Do you think this is the revolution?m

We know there is no going back. I've never seen a revolution so I don't know.

We had many protests but they didn't like this. They are afraid. They called every possible person that accept to fight in the street. I saw with my own eyes that they just teach some teen boys basic stuff about how to suppress people and on the same day they send them to the streets to fight with people.

The big difference is that we were always trying to not hurt any one, even when they killed us, but now we are fighting back. We defend ourselves and we are not afraid of them anymore.

Is there any way that people outside of Iran with no political power can help you?

in terms of money and NGO, unfortunately no. there is no guarantee that your money isn't spend on guns to suppress people. We need you to do something far more important. we need you to talk about it, talk about how we are fighting with nothing in our hand for freedom, how young girls and boys is in street shouting "WOMEN, LIFE, FREEDOM" and instead they use school and ambulance to arrest people. This way the regime knows you are watching and they know they have to answer to the world so maybe they be less violent. If you want to do more, contact you politicians or show to them somehow that you need them to stop supporting Islamic republic.

Does posting something like this put you in danger?

It's complicated.

Yes, they can use it against me in court for "Insulting the leadership trying to destroy the Islamic republic ". But it doesn't matter. My friends are in street and any time they can kill you with a gun and not answer to any one.

Also if you have Twitter you can see #مهسا_امینی these are people that use this hashtag to say to each other that they aren't alone and why they don't want this regime (if you checked Twitter, definitely give them hope they need it). So everyone is using every way possible to say no, so until they don't have the exact information about me it not worth the money to find out who I am because there is a lot of us.

I was in Stuttgart (Germany) today and there was quite a number of protesters in the city centre. I am in full support albeit poorly informed.

Here, we enjoy freedom of speech but how is the situation in Iran? How violent are the protests and the corresponding suppression attempts by the Islamic dictatorship?

Sending out virtual hugs - stay brave but safe!

Recently there was a joke everywhere in Iran that we have freedom of before the speech but not after that. they can't stop people from talking about how wrong they are because there are a lot of these messages and talks but if your message gains a lot of attention and inspire people, they will definitely arrest you or execute you.

They have guns and we have stones. They use ambulances, schools, and buses for suppression and when people destroy ambulances to free the arrested ones they say we are destroying the peace. They shut down the internet and we are wrong to say anything about it.

Until last night, they killed 36 people that we know their names in this week. It's definitely a lot more. Some not even protesting just walking by.

I'm not saying that we are not violent but last time we didn't do anything and they killed 1500 people. We try to defend ourselves by destroying police cars, and stations. But people's house, banks and etc are off limit because what we want is different from theirs. It's a safe and free country.

Word on the street is that they shut down the internet. How are you managing to post?

mobile data is gone. ADSL is still working but it is heavily filtered(right now Instagram, Whatsapp, Facebook, Twitter, Telegram, Skype, and more that I don't remember are filtered) and even between 4 PM till 12 AM it is intranet (it only opens Iranian websites which are monitored by the regime). Until they don't shut down the internet completely for themselves too, we can find a way to be online. But it's getting harder and harder. I have to change VPN and proxy every hour and when I connect at best it's 50KB/s. And a lot of people don't have the knowledge to access the internet by these methods.

Are young Iranian men helping and supporting the protests as well?

Yes. From the first day. They are in the streets as much as young women. It's about human rights and how people are treated and not some sort of "only women club".

Everyone in Iran has a story about how this regime destroyed their life. This regime hates every human being, every piece of art, every square inch of this land. Right now we are fighting for all of these.

Do you feel the protests will achieve anything of consequence?

Honestly, we are afraid. They are arresting more and more. We don't have a lot of information about what is going on in some parts of Iran which were more protesters because they even cut the phones. Today they arrest more than 100 students from inside universities and some of them are my friends. so we were never been angrier and it drives us to achieve it. By every person they arrest, it gets more and more personal.

Has anyone talked about locating the prisons and attempting to break people out? I don't know what that would require there but you mentioned the regime using teenage boys so I'm wondering if you have enough people to take one over and free those they have taken.

people help each other to escape but some get arrested. If we know where they are, we definitely try to break people out but they don't take them to prison these recent days.

Is there any strategic leadership for the opposition? I fear there will be a violent government crackdown, and hope someone is anticipating it and maybe even has a plan.

Edit: Also just wanna say I'm inspired by the bravery of the people protesting!

No, it isn't. It's just people in the streets. In the first couple of days, we didn't even know what to do or where we can protest. but we were angry about what happened and we are tired of their crimes so we just did it. Honestly, people like that we don't have a leader because last time the leader became the dictator. And many people tried to claim these protests but people refused.

The government is violent right now. They at least killed 36 people (That we know their name) including 16-year-old teenagers. They arrested many more and we don't even know where they are. They beat people on the street just because they are standing there.

I doubt that if we win there be violence. because even now people don't destroy mosques, schools, or banks and they are trying so hard to tell that we do. Truth be told, we have to set fire to some trash cans (because of the effect of teargas), ambulances ( they use it to transfer soldiers and the people they arrested), and police cars.

The plan is clear, to have a democratic government and a free country.

Does the fact that Ms. Imini was Kurdish have any effect on how people are reacting to her murder? Or is she seen as Iranian first?

First, she is Iranian and we all have to fight over what happened to her so that it doesn't happen again to any other girl. Mahsa wasn't the first victim and it's a bigger issue than our different ethnicities.

We love that she was Kurdish. I'm not Kurdish but the Kurdish language is very beautiful, and they are great people.

What does the average Iranian person think about what’s going on?

Hope you’re safe and well.

At the same time angry, afraid and hopeful.

I was born in Hong Kong and honestly citizens has very little leverage in making a government to change. From what I learn of the subpressed young people in China, their approach is "lay flat", be unproductive and not procreate. Basically being passive aggressive, and wait for old generation to die out.

Do you see Iran ever take the "lay flat" approach? If you do, would you see with the government take even more control of women and force marriage/pregnancy?

Being afraid that maybe you lose your life or destroy your future isn't "lay flat".

We hear horrible news every day but we couldn't do anything. But when they killed Mahsa was something that we couldn't just sit back. She was innocent, (like many others), but the fact that I can be killed just for going out the way I dress right now, makes it hard to care that they will kill or arrest me if I protest.

It's also true for young men. They are under pressure too. And it makes us believe that if I could be killed anyway, at least I can try.

How do the people feel the protests compare to 2009?

Every protest up to now has helped to shape this protest today. We try to use the knowledge they have. The difference between them is this they were about a specific case and now all the people come and it is for all the problems.

Also, in 2009 young people try to ask for help and support from elders and religious people, but right now we say you are with us or you are as cruel as they are. The line between personal belief and being a human is getting thinner and thinner.

As a muslim woman myself, I understand what you're going through and it breaks my heart 💔. May I know, how do you and other women deal with constant threats and people attacking you using religion (for example : I watched a video of school boys calling their girl classmate sl8t and a bunch of deragatory terms for not wearing hijab) ?

If I want to be completely honest, It makes us hate Islam. I can't deny how many young boys and girls are under pressure from family and they have to fight their own families and the regime at the same time. You can't love what is forced on you.

But about Muslims, we love them. A Hijabi woman called Fateme Sepehri right now is under arrest and everyone loves her and is worried about her. Almost everyone has a close family member that is religious and we don't have any problem unless they use it to oppress people. Basically don't hurt or force anyone to your religion.

But right now every Muslim has to be louder than us, they are using your religion to hurt innocent people. If the Muslim community doesn't support people in Iran, you can't expect young people in Iran to think you are different from the Islamic republic.

Oh I forgot your question :)

before you have to be quiet because they were more but recently we say you can't say what I'm supposed to do. Among young people, It's a common pain and struggle so we talk to each other and support each other. But the trauma of having to deal with it every day is a lot and talking isn't helpful anymore.

Are there any talks to overthrow the sitting gov.?

Yes. People want to overthrow the regime but it's too soon to see what will happen.

I saw an Instagram memorial post of nearly 7 young people being shot and killed at these protests. I can not comprehend how "morality police" can feel justified in using violence against women over head covering. What's the end goal? If they successfully terrorize half the population into submission, what of their children and their grandchildren left to pick up the conflict again in the future? Just people born to grow up to fight for or against something that their great great great great grandfather's disapproved of.

the end goal right now is to change regime but we don't know what will happen or we succeed.

If we fail they start to be more aggressive and more violent but the situation they made, it's unbearable so definitely, there will be more protests for changing it.

Do most young men generally support you or not?

Yes. From the first day. They are in the streets as much as young women. It's about human rights and how people are treated and not some sort of "only women club".

Everyone in Iran has a story about how this regime destroyed their life. This regime hates every human being, every piece of art, every square inch of this land. Right now we are fighting for all of these.

Do you hope for a complete government change yo a more secular state, or an overhaul of the current one?

We know that they won't change. Any part of this government is corrupted.

We have an unjust justice system, the powerful people don't answer to anyone even if they kill someone, the rules that no one agrees with, the education system sucks, people are struggling for the money to just live their life, they are destroying the environment and if we want to change all of this and more that I didn't write it would mean we have to change the government.

What is the overall view of the protests amongst young Iranian men your age? I do see some joining in from the videos I’ve seen but what is their opinion on all types of religious clothing? Do they wish to soften hijab laws or outlaw hijabs entirely?

Yes. They are in the streets as much as young girls. It's about more than forcing the hijab, we are fighting for the freedom to choose what we want to wear, for not being harassed by anybody else to say what we can do and don't, and recently for more than that, for freedom, poverty, and all their crimes. And if it was just forced Hijab I believe they would join us. because human rights don't have gender, race, or religion.

But about freedom, we want it for EVERYONE. I don't care what anyone wears or does unless it's being forced, or hurting someone or themselves. It's simply their choice and I want to have mine.

Part of the reason this regime won in 1979 was that in previous gov. the Shah (King) forced women to not wear Hijab. Everyone has to just understand women are able to choose what is best for them to wear or do.

For a layman like myself, what is the best way to summarize the current conflict of Iran to others? I’m Palestinian-American, so most of my time speaking out is on Israel-Palestine issues. I’d love to learn more about this issue from an Iranian herself.

There is a cruel regime that kills people and destroys life, the environment, art, and everything beautiful you can imagine. They make people poorer and poorer and destroy Iranian culture.

About a week ago they killed a 22-year-old girl just because she wasn't wearing an improper Hijab. They say she had a heart attack but evidence of the images we had from her shows her head was beaten and the people in custody with her say she wasn't quite to the insults about her and her family so they beat her, her family says her body was bruised and honestly we have seen enough from this regime to believe they are saying the truth.

This made the Iranian people furious and they protest at her funeral and said in Kurdish "Zhen, Zhian, Azadi" which translates to "Women, Life, Freedom". We start because they killed a woman, we continue for all the lives they took from us, and we won't stop until every woman and man has freedom. this girl inspired every one of us to choose to fight, to end their cruelty to anyone, and that we deserve better.

Right now they are fighting with people with all of their power. They called every soldier and person to fight for them. They are using young boys, schools, and ambulances to suppress people. The Internet is low and in some cities, we don't have any sort of connection with them. In Oshnavieh, People were more successful and got control of the city but they send the military there. We are so worried about them because we know if we don't do anything, this would be the death of a lot of people there.

I feel for what you (collectively the women of Iran) are going through right now. From what I can see, it seems that a few men are joining in the fight/protest. But unless fathers, brothers and sons start coming out in greater numbers to stand up for the rights of their daughters, sisters, and mothers, I worry that this fight is going to go nowhere.

How much support are you getting from the men around you?

Yes. From the first day. They are in the streets as much as young women. It's about human rights and how people are treated and not some sort of "only women club".

Everyone in Iran has a story about how this regime destroyed their life. This regime hates every human being, every piece of art, every square inch of this land. Right now we are fighting for all of these.

At what point do you want other countries stepping in to help?

I'm not an expert in this kind of stuff but I've read the history and every time a foreign gov is interested in helping another country's people, it's because they have something to gain. If what they want aligns with what the people of Iran want and benefits them, It's good. But I don't know how to differentiate between helping people and destroying our non-existent freedom. So except not supporting the Islamic republic, I don't know what else is possible for them to do.

Can you give a brief rundown of the situation on the street at the moment for those of us not in the know? Does it feel more like an outpouring of anger at the situation or a genuine attempt at regime change?

There is a cruel regime that kills people and destroys life, the environment, art, and everything beautiful you can imagine. They make people poorer and poorer and destroy Iranian culture.

About a week ago they killed a 22-year-old girl just because she wasn't wearing an improper Hijab. They say she had a heart attack but evidence of the images we had from her shows her head was beaten and the people in custody with her say she wasn't quite to the insults about her and her family so they beat her, her family says her body was bruised and honestly we have seen enough from this regime to believe they are saying the truth.

This made the Iranian people furious and they protest at her funeral and said in Kurdish "Zhen, Zhian, Azadi" which translates to "Women, Life, Freedom". We start because they killed a woman, we continue for all the lives they took from us, and we won't stop until every woman and man has freedom. this girl inspired every one of us to choose to fight, to end their cruelty to anyone, and that we deserve better.

Right now they are fighting with people with all of their power. They called every soldier and person to fight for them. They are using young boys, schools, and ambulances to suppress people. The Internet is low and in some cities, we don't have any sort of connection with them. In Oshnavieh, People were more successful and got control of the city but they send the military there. We are so worried about them because we know if we don't do anything, this would be the death of a lot of people there.

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It feels more like a genuine attempt at regime change with a lot of anger.

Are all Iranian people in general United against the Ali Khamenei regime?

Support from Scotland!

Yes. This regime is the definition of cruelty. so everyone with a reasonable mind is against them.

Except for stupids, old people with wrong belief systems, and those who benefit from this situation. The good news is they are getting smaller and smaller.

I've seen reports on tiktok that police are patrolling the streets and shooting people on sight. I've even seen a video where a police officer shot (and missed) at a parent and their child who were looking out of their apartment window. Do you know if there is any truth to this?

Tiktok can be good for getting information out but it's unfortunately also full of people who have no problem claiming to be affected but using videos from completely different countries/events.

Unfortunately, they are true. They are more violent than any time before.

They kill people who are just walking by, using school and ambulances. Even themselves say that they won't refuse to shoot if we protest. Hell, this whole thing started because they killed an innocent girl.

I've seen the video you're talking about and It's in Iran.

Full support here for you and yours but how long until the govt says enough and sends a real military response?

they have already sent them.They are videos that show them with guns.

Believe me, they are sending every possible person who is stupid enough to fight for them. Since last night, we are seeing even teenagers with army clothes and batons.

In footage of the streets, it feels like it’s mainly men protesting. Like 2 women to every 100 men. Is this the case? Or are plenty of women out on the streets - just not in the footage I’m getting?

I think we are equal or at least it's super close to equal. every area is different. but in general, everyone is involved.

How safe do you think it is to post so much on social media? Obviously it depends on what you’re posting, but would it be better to keep more information restricted? Or are people not worrying about it?

I'm not a very active person on social media but usually, people are very active. In recent weeks, it is absolutely scary to post because if they arrest you, they use it against you. But no one can watch how they are killing young people and be quiet. Also, it's our fuel. We give each other hope, we tell each other what to do and what isn't safe and we can't stop talking to each other. So there are a lot of messages, especially on Twitter. I hope because there are a lot of these messages, they don't do anything to anyone.