What is White Wednesday campaign?
The ‘White Wednesday’ campaign is a popular online platform on which women from inside Iran share videos of themselves walking in public without a headscarf and expressing opposition to forced veiling and discussing their hopes for women’s rights.
Amnesty International is aware of at least eight women currently in detention for their activism against forced veiling and the White Wednesdays campaign: Yasaman Aryani and her mother, Monireh Arabshahi; Saba Kordafshari and her mother, Raheleh Ahmadi; Mojgan Keshavarz; Fereshteh Didani; and two other women whose names are not yet known to Amnesty International. They are facing charges including “inciting and facilitating corruption and prostitution”, “spreading propaganda against the system” and “gathering and colluding to commit crimes against national security”.
Under Iran’s compulsory veiling laws, the punishment for women seen in public without a headscarf includes arrest, a prison sentence, flogging or a fine. Forced veiling laws violate a whole host of rights, including the rights to equality, privacy, and freedom of expression and belief. The practice of compulsory veiling also degrades women and girls, stripping them of their dignity and self-worth.
Cruel repression tactics of the Iranian regime
For the past 17 years, I have written numerous articles based on my research on today’s Iran. While researching on the issue, I came to know the series of horrific facts about the treatment of prisoners and socio-political opponents of the Iranian regime. Particularly, the members of Iran’s notorious Revolutionary Guard as well as the prison guards commit heinous crimes on the detained or imprisoned females. In most cases, these unfortunate females are gang-raped by the members of the Revolutionary Guard and or the prison guards. While cruelty on the females and socio-political opponents are continuing in full swing in Iran and its rogue regime are committing crimes against humanity, unfortunately, most of the Western leaders are showing extreme and undue favour to those mullahs. The worst-ever culprits, in this case, are French President Emmanuel Macron, German chancellor Angela Markel, and Russian President Vladimir Putin. They not only are granting special favour to Iran but also are playing extreme foul in confronting every step that goes against the Iranian rogue regime. We are aware of such notoriety soon after President Donald Trump took the timely step against Iran centering Barack Obama’s nuclear deal.
Where is Yasaman Aryani?
Yasaman Aryani and her mother Monireh Arabshahi have been charged with offenses including “inciting and facilitating corruption and prostitution” through promoting “unveiling”, solely for campaigning against abusive forced veiling laws.
Yasaman Aryani, 23, had been arrested along with some other activists, while attending a protest assembly on August 2, 2018, in front of Daneshjoo (Student) park in Tehran and taken to Qarchak prison.
Right after their arrest, the young detainees posted a message on their experience and calling for help via a cellphone from inside a State Security Force van as they were being taken to jail.
Thousands of enraged protesters poured into the streets of several Iranian cities for several days in early August 2018, protesting the country’s faltering economy, skyrocketing inflation, hardship, and hiking prices.
Aryani and four other women were sentenced to spend time in prison on the charge of “disrupting the public order” and were transferred to Evin Prison.
After being released from Evin Prison on February 13, 2019, she announced that “being pardoned” was just a show by the regime officials.
Yasaman Aryani had revealed regimes’ crimes against incarcerated women and the prison’s condition.
While a source claims Monireh Arabshahi was released from the prison and her daughter Yasaman Aryani was still untraceable, another source said, both are still missing and it is highly anticipated that the rogue Iranian regime is applying numerous forms of intimidation tactics on the mother and her daughter. Their house was repeatedly raided by the members of the notorious Revolutionary Guard and even Yasaman’s father was abused and assaulted.
Where is the global outcry?
Participants of the White Wednesday campaign deserve support from the international community, media, and rights groups. The Iranian regime will never stop such inhuman cruelty on the White Wednesday participants unless there is a huge international outcry. Unfortunately, there is not sufficient campaign in the social media in defense of the participants of the White Wednesday campaign.
In my opinion, participants of the White Wednesday campaign are real heroes and they well deserve our support. They must not be forgotten or abandoned by any of the conscious individuals around the world.
Islam needs to be reformed immediately. The rogue culture of forcing girls and women in wearing burqa or hijab should come to an end. Western policymakers and societies should come forward and voice against burqa and hijab. There should be a total ban on these notorious radical Islamic attires.
In case of necessity, Western policymakers should adopt the appropriate law of deporting those who wear burqa and hijab.
(The author is the Editor of Blitz.)
Also Read : Iranian regime must tell what they are doing with rights activists – Part 1
(Disclaimer: The opinions expressed within this article are the personal opinions of the author. The facts and opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of AFTERNOON VOICE and AFTERNOON VOICE does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.)
