Protesters in Wellington cut hair in solidarity with Iranian women

More than 100 people, most of whom were from New Zealand’s Iranian community, braved the rain to gather at Wellington’s Cuba St on Saturday to protest the death of Kurdish Iranian woman Mahsa Amini, with some cutting their hair in mourning.

Amini died in Iran’s capital Tehran last Friday, three days after being detained by the country’s morality police for having some hair visible under her hijab (headscarf). The unit, known as Gasht-e Ershad (Guidance Patrol), is responsible for enforcing the country’s Islamic morals and harsh dressing rules.

The 22-year-old’s death sparked angry protests around the country, with women burning hijabs, and crowds calling for the removal of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

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In Wellington, protesters held signs demanding Iran to end oppression against women and echoed the protest slogan “women, life, freedom”. There were also emotional scenes when around 10 protesters, including organiser Hanna Habibi and Green MP Golriz Ghahraman, cut their hair as is the Kurdish custom of mourning.

Habibi, who is Kurdish and have been living in New Zealand since 2016, said it was “outrageous” and “ridiculous” that things like this was happening in the 21st century.

“A woman in Iran count as half a man,” she said. “I have lived under that regime for 26 years – all my life – until I left. I have experienced every second of oppression and injustice on equal rights in Iran.”

The local Iranian community had been angry and sad at what happened in their homeland, Habibi also said, and the fight for equal rights had been ongoing since Islamists seized power in 1979.

Ghahraman, who fled Iran in 1990 with her family who resettled as refugees in New Zealand, told the crowd she still remembered the “terror” of being out on the streets as a young girl with other women when the authorities came by.

“I remember the way women [officials] had to check our dresses over and over again,” she said. “We’ve never accepted that oppression and neither have Iranian men.”

Kurdish-Iranian writer Behrouz Boochani, who was granted refugee status in New Zealand after being detained on Manus Island for six years, was also at the protest. He said while what’s happening in Tehran was important, people should pay more attention to regions in western Iran where Kurds form the majority population because the first protests originated there.

Boochani also said compared to previous anti-regime protests that he had seen, the cause united Iranians of different social standings. The 2009 Green Movement was about reforms, while protests in 2017 and 2019 were initiated by the working class, he said.

“This time, middle-class people, marginalised peoples and working class people get together. I haven’t seen Iranian people been united like this.”

Widespread internet blackouts meant many Iranians cannot contact their friends and families back home, and Habibi wanted New Zealanders to be their voice and the New Zealand Government to take a stand and condemn Tehran’s actions.

“They can share our story. They can tell other people in the world what we’re going through and that that’s going to be extremely helpful,” she said.

“I understand it might be confusing people [but] we’re not anti-hijab. We’re fighting for women’s freedom of choice to wear a hijab if you want. And now we need their support and to be heard.”