A video of an Iranian athlete, archer Parmida Ghasemi, is making headlines as she is hailed for her ‘courage’ to confront the current regime amid the nationwide unrest in the Western Asian country following the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who was reported to be killed in when she was in police custody in September.
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An Iranian journalist, Masih Alinejad, took to Twitter to share the video of the incident from an event where Ghasemi is seen taking off her headscarf on the stage, to which people soon applaud her. “Leader of the Islamic Republic,” Ali Khamenei said, “Keeping hijab is more important than winning medals for female athletes. Parmida Ghassemi, a prolific athlete, removes her hijab in front of officials during the award ceremony. Another humiliation for the Iranian regime #MahsaAmini.”
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Amini was held by the police on September 17 for “not wearing her hijab properly.” Her death has plunged the Islamic republic into a swirl of chaos since mid-September. Initially what took off as a protest has turned into a revolt in the nation as people question such regressive rules normalised into the culture and often used to perpetuate harm to women’s rights.
International concerns have mounted over the brutal crackdown by the State on what is being hailed as one of the biggest protests in the nation since the Islamic revolution of 1979. Reuters citing an internal news agency had reported that till November 3, over 280 protestors had been killed in the crackdown but people remain unmoved despite repeated warnings by the Iranian authorities.
(HT could not verify the video independently)
