STORIES

BROKEN SILENCE

Iran

Iran's regime falls short of meeting democratic standards due to the overarching influence of its clerical establishment in critical institutions, such as the judiciary and security forces, or their strict regulations on internet censorship. In the first decade of the 21st century, Iran experienced a significant surge in Internet usage. Millions of Iranians stay connected to the world through social media, despite attempts by the regime to restrict the access of a young, tech-savvy population. The Iranian government and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps persistently block social media, such as Facebook and Twitter, and many popular websites, such as Blogger, HBO, YouTube, and Netflix. The 2009 Access to Information Law, which enables the government to withhold information on vague grounds – further strengthens state censorship of Information Law, which empowers the government to withhold information under insufficient feet, such as protecting state interests and public security. With all the restrictive measures towards media freedom and internet use, the efforts seem ineffective, as millions of Iranians nonetheless stay connected via social media. This is primarily attributed to proxies and VPNs, which enable young Iranians to bypass restrictions. Nowadays, Social media use in Iran is mainly attributed to young Iranians as a means for the opposition to push the political boundaries and talk about the many crimes and human rights violations at the hands of the Islamic regime.

After the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian woman who was killed in Tehran, Iran, under suspicious circumstances, due to Morality Police brutality, Iranians broke their silence. They joined others in raising their voice on social media. Twitter and Instagram became a platform to help Iranians inside and outside of Iran become united and courageous to fight for their freedom. With all the efforts of Iranian netizens now, Mahsa Amini's hashtag has been used and retweeted more than 100 million times, triggering nationwide protests in Iran hoping to overthrow the Islamic regime.

Mohammed, 28 years old, a social media activist on Twitter, is one of the many Iranians that tweeted about Mahsa Amini. " I wasn't that active on social media and just posting daily life pictures and tweets until 8 January 2020, when I heard that the Ukrainian airline 752 was shot down by the Iranian government. I was in shock for days; even I tried to go out and participate in a protest about that, but it wasn't enough for me; that is why as soon as I got back home, I started tweeting about it and wanted to be the voice of innocents who were killed in that plane. After that, I got more involved in sharing about what's happening in Iran and became a social media activist. After two years, I'm trying to fight for freedom and remembering Mahsa Amini's name by sharing her hashtags on Twitter; I won't stop until we overthrow this regime." Mohammed says.

Parinaz, 32 years old, is a chef in a restaurant in the north of Iran; she is another Iranian tweeting about Mahsa Amini on Twitter. " It all started back in 2019 protests when Islamic regime killed more than 1500 people and no one outside Iran heard our voice, back then I decided to do my best whether it's on Twitter or Instagram or anywhere else I will be the voice of Iranians and share all the crimes, humans right violations and discriminations that is happening to people in other countries that maybe they could help us in a way. Now, these days after Mahsa Amini's death, I'm seeing it's working; people worldwide are hearing us." Parinaz says.

Shabnam, 27 years old, is a photographer who joined many other Iranians tweeting about Mahsa Amini. " For years, they tried to silence the women in Iran; they did whatever they wanted to, sentencing to jail, humiliating, and now killing women over hijab. I can't stay quiet and do anything anymore, I'm going out and participating in the protests, and at night till morning, I'm tweeting about all the crimes of the Islamic regime and Masha. I hope we see them gone forever and feel the taste of freedom again. " Shabnam says.

Marziye, 35 years old, is a phycologist who is joined many other Iranians in helping to trend Mahsa Amini's hashtag on Twitter. "I've been on Twitter for years and tweeting mostly about women's rights issues in Iran. For decades we were suppressed and treated like second-hand citizens; Twitter is a platform where we can share our opinions and raise awareness for women's rights, and it helped a lot too. Nowadays, you can see we have achieved so many things and changed the opinion of people about this important issue in Iran as you see people are on the streets fighting for women's rights, freedom, and for a better future, and that's because of the platforms such a Twitter that helped Iranians to get pieces of information of what happened to Mahsa after it becomes a trend on social media now the whole world knows about this. I think it's an essential thing that we are doing." Marziye says.

Ali, 29 years old, is a car dealer and one of the many Iranians active on social media fighting for his beliefs. " I started using my social media accounts to raise my voice when the Islamic regime wanted to execute Navid Afkari; we started a campaign to stop the execution, but we couldn't succeed even though many Iranians joined the movement. Since then, many things have happened in Iran, and I didn't stop talking about them on social media; now, we are trending #MahsaAmini. She became a symbol for us; we will never forget her name, and we will overthrow this brutal regime with the help of social media, our primary source of connection between Iranians." Ali says.

Abbas, 24 years old, is a university student. " I'm not having enough sleep these days; I'm on Twitter and Instagram sharing what is happing inside Iran. We all need to be the voice of Mahsa Aminins. I'm doing this because, for years, we have witnessed the crimes of the Islamic Regime, and I couldn't do anything except talk about this on social media. This is the only way to show that we are not happy with this regime and want them gone." Abbas says.

Puya, 19 years old, a university student, is another Iranian tweeting nonstop about Mahsa Amini. " It doesn't matter when and why I started using social media to raise awareness; the only thing is a matter that after Mahsa Amini's brutal death and many other innocent Iranians before we use social media to be their voice, share their stories and ask for help and support from people outside Iran to put pressure on their governments to stop being silent about the Islamic Regime crimes. I won't stop until I see the day that we are free from these tyrants." Puya says.

Yasmin, 24 years old, is an influencer on Instagram and TikTok. " I have so many followers on my social media and was posting about my life. I did want to talk about women's rights, but I was scared that the government was going to arrest me for that; until Mahsa Amini's death, everything changed for me; I was full of anger and didn't want to be silent anymore, I wanted to get our country back from mullahs and return to the path that was going before 1979. That is why I started to talk about her on my platforms, now people are fighting and inspired by Mahsa Amini, but it is now so much bigger than her." Yasmin says.

Javad, 32 years old, is an artist and one of the Iranians talking about Mahsa Amini and the protests on social media. " It was back in 2009 when I started using social media to raise my voice against the Islamic Regime; from then, I never stopped writing about social issues, human rights violations, and crimes that are happening in Iran. In my opinion, we must use these platforms to raise our voices and wake up those, wheater our people or other governments, who still believe that the Islamic Regime is our best option to be in power. At this point that finally all the people around the world hear us, I think we issued a milestone for all of us trying to raise awareness for years, and I'm pleased about it." Javad says.

Reza, 17 years old, is a student. He is tweeting about recent protests in Iran and Mahsa Amini. “Social media is playing an important role for the young generation in Iran, not just posting about daily life, but also a tool to express ourselves and fight for what we believe in. For many years the Islamic regime has been trying to suppress us, they think gays should be killed, women should wear hijabs, and they don’t believe in any human rights. All the anger has been collected for all the rights we missed in these 43 years, and now it has come to the point that everyone is on the streets fighting for their freedom. It’s all because of the power of social media.” Reza says.

Amir, 25 years old, working as a salesperson, is another example of many Iranians tweeting about Mahsa Amini. " I wasn't active on social media since I heard Morality Police killed a girl over her hijab. I couldn't stay silent; all the people have their rights, which was unacceptable. They killed so many of us through decades of brutality, and this time they can't silence us; we will continue to use tweeting, sharing, and doing whatever we can to reach our voices to the outside world. " Amir says.