Director's Lecture Series: 'Women, Life, Freedom: Achieving political change in Iran'
Channel: SOAS University of London
Date: 15/11/2022

On 16 September, Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian-Kurdish woman, died in custody after being arrested by the Iranian morality police for allegedly breaching the Islamic regime’s strict dress code which requires all women to wear the hijab.  

Following her death, Iran has been gripped by nationwide protests in opposition to the Islamic regime and their strict laws against women’s freedom of expression, women's rights and women's autonomy.  

“Women, life, freedom” is the rallying cry for these protests, with women across Iran and the world burning their veils, cutting their hair, and expressing their support for the mass demonstrations against the state.  

Despite over 200 deaths estimated since the demonstrations began, the protests continue across the country over six weeks later, with Iranians of all genders, ages and professions expressing their outrage and resistance to the Islamic regime.  

The protests have united the country and garnered international support. Iranian diaspora communities and human rights activists have organised international rallies, launched petitions, and are fundraising to support the demonstrations.  

What does this mean for Iran’s place in the world? Have these protests further isolated the Islamic regime? Will the regime’s aggressive reaction to the protests provoke further international sanctions? And will the mobilization of women and young people be stopped?   

Annabelle Sreberny, Emeritus Professor at the SOAS Centre for Global Media and Communications; activist, journalist and former BBC Persian correspondent, Negin Shiraghaei; and Director of the Siamak Pourzand Foundation and PhD Researcher at SOAS in digital media and human rights, Azadeh Pourzand, will join SOAS Director Professor Adam Habib to discuss these questions and the future of Iran on Thursday 10 November in this online event.  

The SOAS Director’s Lecture Series focuses on the planetary questions of our time and how to enable a collective human response. In this historical moment, all of our big challenges – pandemics, climate change, inequality, social and political polarisation – are transnational in character and require a cohering of the human community.