Since 22-year-old Mahsa Amini died in the custody of the religious morality police, tens of thousands of Iranians have been protesting against their own government. The challenge now is to prevent the mullahs' regime from striking down the protests as bloodily as it did the "Green Revolt" in 2009.

"This could be the beginning of the end of the Islamic regime!" says Mina Ahadi, exile Iranian and chairwoman of the "Central Council of Ex-Muslims," who has been supported in her human rights work by the Giordano Bruno Foundation (gbs) for many years. "In the current situation, the West should stand resolutely by the side of the protesters, who are demanding nothing more than respect for fundamental human rights. That is why, together with the Central Council of Ex-Muslims and many Iranian expats, we have also taken to the streets here in Germany in recent days. It is the first time in a decade that there is hope for change in Iran. Mahsa Amini's death, who had to die because she allegedly had not covered her hair properly, was the straw that broke the camel's back. We must not abandon the courageous people, especially the many women, who are currently fighting patriarchy and political Islam while risking their lives!"

gbs board spokesman Michael Schmidt-Salomon agrees: "German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock recently explained what 'feminist foreign policy' means, using the example of Iranian women. These words should now follow action to prevent the Mullah regime from putting down protests in its own country with a similar level of violence as in the 2009 protests. It is clear that a structural change in Iran would have a decisive impact on the entire world: The Islamic Revolution in Iran caused political Islam to take off globally; now Iran could send the decisive signal to put an end to this totalitarian, patriarchal movement."

gbs advisory board member Hamed Abdel-Samad has also called for support for the Iranian protest movement, criticizing parts of the "postmodernist left" that counterfactually interpret the Muslim headscarf as a "sign of emancipation". "Women in Iran are taking off their veils and burning them because they are fed up with the religious patriarchal system that produced the hijab. Meanwhile, some Western feminists still believe the hijab is a symbol of empowerment. If you want to learn about real feminism, I recommend looking at Persian, Kurdish, and Arab women fighting religious oppression while you empower this religion in the West!"

Further links:

• Proteste nach dem Tod von Mahsa Amini auch in NRW (WDR aktuell, 9/21/2022, available for an extended period as a Facebook video)
• "Ich hoffe, wir können im Iran das islamische Regime abschaffen!" Interview with Mina Ahadi (welt.de, 9/28/2022)
• "Wenn das Kopftuch fällt, fallen die Mullahs!" Interview with Shammi Haque (bild.tv, 8/29/2022)

Information on current demonstrations in Germany can be found on Mina Ahadi's Facebook page (partly in Persian).