Protest outside Iranian embassy

This photograph was taken on 10 February 2022 at a rally staged outside the Iranian Embassy in Hataitai, Wellington. The protest took place the day before the anniversary of the toppling of the monarchy during the Iranian Revolution (11 February 1979), which led to the establishment of Iran's current regime, the Islamic Republic. The Islamic Republic has been heavily criticised for its poor treatment of women and executions of protesters.

The Wellington rally was organised by Iranian Solidarity Group New Zealand, a group formed in response to the death of Jina Amini and subsequent birth of the Woman, Life, Freedom movement in Iran in September 2022. Many of the protesters in the photograph hold posters and wear T-shirts drawing attention to the movement.

Woman, Life, Freedom movement
On 13 September 2022, a Kurdish-Iranian woman Jina (Mahsa) Amini was arrested and beaten by morality police in Tehran for improperly wearing her hijab. She later died from her injuries in hospital on the 16th of September. The brutality of her arrest and subsequent passing sparked protests across Iran, beginning the Woman, Life, Freedom movement. This slogan, translated from the original Kurdish “Jin, Jiyan, Azadî,” was a rallying cry that originated in the Kurdish women’s movement and was used alongside other anti-regime slogans. The protests, which were widespread across the country, were violently suppressed by the Iranian Government leading to the arrest of around 22,000 protesters and people connected to between 2022 and 2023. Media and communications blackouts were another tactic used to supress and isolate protest action.

In solidarity with the Iranian protesters, organisers around the world – including in Aotearoa New Zealand – staged their own protests against the Iranian government and the oppression of women’s rights in Iran. The global reach of Woman, Life, Freedom movement in the wake of Amini’s death is attested to in the squares, streets, and parks named in her memory in cities such as London, Ottawa, Paris, and Vienna. Amini and the Iranian women protest movement were awarded the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought 2023, and were featured on the cover of Time Magazine. To date, New Zealand’s formal responses to events in Iran have included condemnations and travel bans on Iranian security forces.