Freedom Button
“If the government can dictate what you have on your head, it can dictate what you have in your head.”
After the 1979 Islamic revolution, wearing a hijab in public (veiling the head and other clothing regulations) became obligatory for all Iranian women. Iran's Morality Police harass and arrest women who they say violate these rules and the courts frequently sentence women (and their male supporters) to years in prison for a variety of connected crimes, including "collusion to act against national security," "propaganda against the regime," and "encouraging corruption and prostitution.” In 2018, the “Girls of Revolution Street” movement earned international attention when dozens of women publicly removed their headscarves, placed them on sticks, and waved them like flags to protest Iran’s repressive mandatory hijab laws. In September 2022, following the death in custody of 22-year-old Mahsa (Jina) Amini days after she was violently arrested by Iran’s “morality” police amid credible reports of torture and other ill-treatment, nationwide protests swept the country, followed by mass arbitrary arrests and the deaths of hundreds of demonstrators.
Five years ago, Nasrin Sotoudeh’s husband Reza Khandan and Dr. Farhad Meysami continued their support for women’s rights by making thousands of buttons that said, "I OPPOSE THE MANDATORY HIJAB.” Reza Khandan: “We had just started distributing the buttons when the intelligence ministry raided Farhad’s house and confiscated buttons and the button-making machine. A few days later, government agents raided our home and my sister’s home. They found a few thousand I OPPOSE THE MANDATORY HIJAB buttons in my office.” Farhad was arrested in July 2018 and unjustly jailed until February 2023, when we was released from prison after a long hunger strike. Reza served three months in prison before being freed on bail to take care of his children, while Nasrin spent over three years in prison (she is now home on medical leave).
I OPPOSE THE MANDATORY HIJAB Button Campaign Sponsors
Amnesty International, Artists for Human Rights, The Boroumand Foundation, The Feminist Majority Foundation, Ms. Magazine, Parliamentarians for Global Action, PEN America, Right Livelihood, Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, and The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran.
