Courageous women protesting against Iran’s tyrannical regime risk their lives by removing their veils in public as they ‘have nothing left to lose’ and won’t go home until ‘Iran is free’
Defiant women protesting against Iran’s tyrannical regime have risked their lives to speak to The Mail on Sunday, telling this newspaper that they have ‘nothing left to lose’ and will not return home until ‘Iran is free’.
Despite the threat of arrest, torture or death, women have openly defied the ruling forces of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) by removing their veils in public, riding motorbikes or posting footage on social media, including using cigarettes to set fire to images of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei.
Speaking anonymously to the MoS via the secure messaging app Telegram – before the regime cut internet access on Thursday in a bid to quell further dissent – the women described the brutality of their lives under the constant surveillance of Iran’s so-called ‘morality police’.
Speaking via a translator, one woman – who we will call ‘Layla’ – said: ‘As a woman in Iran, nothing belongs to you – not even your own life. To leave the country, I need my husband’s permission.
‘To continue my education, I need his permission. To work, I need permission. These are only small examples. If I told you everything, I would have to write a book.’
She also described how women are routinely subjected to ‘sexual abuse, sexual assault, and gender-based violence’ which is worse for political prisoners.
‘First, they break your body,’ Layla says. ‘Then they try to break your dignity. They rape you.’
They know the risks of speaking out, but they say doing nothing is worse.
Women are bravely risking their lives in Iran to protest against the tyrannical regime, sharing images on social media without veils and using cigarettes to light photos of the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei
Iranian Supreme Leader Khamenei addressing a gathering of the people of Qom in Tehran amid ongoing protests
One says: ‘We are risking our lives. Not because we want danger, but because we want a future. Please tell the truth. The world needs to know.’
Another woman, who we will call ‘Mina’, has been on the streets every day since the protests began.
Mina told the MoS: ‘People openly support Reza Pahlavi. Not quietly. For ten days now, people have been calling his name in the streets.
‘We see him as the only person who can save Iran. We are not going back to our homes until Iran is free. People say it with one voice.’
On Saturday night, after hearing of their bravery through the MoS, Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi said: ‘The women of Iran have shown the world what courage truly means.
‘They have stood at the forefront of our national uprising, unarmed yet unafraid.
‘Their bravery has not only sustained the protests, it has reshaped the future of Iran itself.
‘No free and democratic Iran can be built without women as equal leaders, architects, and guardians of our nation’s destiny.’
Gio Esfandeyari, from the think-tank Lotus Advocacy, said: ‘The brave people of Iran are risking their lives in the streets for freedom, dignity, and justice after decades of violence and oppression.
‘We honour those who have been killed or imprisoned and support the millions demanding change. The world must not look away.’
