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JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Protests continue following the deaths of two Iranian women. People around the world are now calling for a change in how women are treated in the country.
The protests are gaining strength even in Jacksonville.
“We have been oppressed and suppressed for many, many years and I think this is the time that the world needs to hear us out and be our voice,” Sonia Javani said during a small protest Sunday near City Hall.
Javani moved to the United States from Iran 20 years ago. She understands the anger of how women are treated.
“The very first time that I was detained, I was seven years old with my entire family,” she said.
At her seventh birthday party, she was detained for playing music at their family gathering. It was her first of many encounters with the so-called “morality police.”
“I was detained again around the age of 17 because of not wearing my hijab properly and just hanging out with friends outside in the area that I was not supposed to be hanging out,” Javani said. “I was supposed to receive lashes because of that.”
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The demonstration went on for more than three hours in downtown Jacksonville on Sunday. But demonstrations are not just happening in the United States but across the world.
The protests were triggered by the death of Masha Amini last month, a 22-year-old woman who died in police custody after being detained by the morality police. They accused her of not following the country’s strict hijab law. Authorities claim she died of a heart attack. Family and other witnesses say police beat her to death.
A few days later, 16-year-old Nika Shahkarami went missing after protesting Amini’s death by burning her head scarf. She was found dead 10 days later after her family says authorities stole her body. Family members accuse police of murdering her by throwing her off a building but were forced to say Nika died by suicide.
People fighting for justice and for change to the more than 40-year regime.
“The people of Iran and the women are just saying enough is enough,” Javani said.
