Subhechcha Ganguly 
If you’re wondering what a government could do to its own citizens, the Iranian government and parliament have sanctioned the death of 15,000 people for anti-Hijab and anti-government protests.
Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish woman, was detained by morality police in September for reportedly not wearing her headscarf correctly. She was arrested and beaten. She died a few days later as a result of a severe blow to the head. Protests erupted across the country as a result, and many women burned their hijab headscarves in bonfires to advocate for women’s rights. In order to protest the tyrannical regime, some women even cut their hair in public.
Now, in response to Iranian lawmakers’ calls for tougher sentences for protestors and as a “important lesson,” the Iranian Parliament approved the death penalty for about 15,000 people by a vote of 227 out of a total of 290 members.
“We, the representatives of this nation, request that all state officials, including the Judiciary, treat those who waged war (against the Islamic establishment) and attacked people’s lives and property, such as the Daesh (terrorists), in a manner that would serve as a good lesson in the shortest possible time,” said an open letter signed by parliamentarians.
The parliamentarians went on to say that the sentence would “demonstrate to everybody that life, property, security, and the honour of our dear people are a red line for this [Islamic] system and that it will not be crossed.”
Hundreds of children have been arrested, including young ladies fighting for their futures. Iran is one of the last countries in the world to execute “juvenile offenders,” with girls reaching the age of criminal responsibility at nine, compared to 15 for boys.However, under Iranian law, if a minor is a virgin, they cannot be executed.That roadblock has previously been overcome by marrying the girls off to prison guards to be raped the night before their murders – a practise documented over decades by journalists, families, activists, and even a former leader.
