Mahsa Amini: One year since death of Iranian woman who sparked a revolution

Global News takes a look back on the one-year anniversary of the Women, Life, Freedom movement that began following the in-custody death of Mahsa Jina Amini.

For the first time in history, Iranian women are leading the charge in a revolutionary movement that threatens to topple the Islamic Republic regime that has ruled since 1979.   

Mahsa Jina Amini, a 22-year-old woman from Saqqez in the Kurdish region of Iran, is arrested by the so-called morality police for allegedly improperly wearing her hijab. She falls into a coma while in custody.

Amini dies in a Tehran hospital. Crowds gather outside to express their shock and anger. Police say Amini died of an existing medical problem, but her family says she had been killed by blows to her head and limbs. Protests break out across the country calling for accountability, and soon the outpouring of grief over Amini’s death turns into a movement vying to topple the regime.

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Protests erupt at Amini’s funeral in her hometown. Women toss their compulsory headscarves in the air in an act of defiance.

Hundreds of Iranian-Canadians protest outside the U.S. Consulate in Vancouver over the death of Amini. The U.S. government sanctions the morality police in response to growing calls for action.

1:56 Iranian Canadians protest death of woman in custody of ‘morality police’

Tens of thousands of Iranian-Canadians demonstrate at the Vancouver Art Gallery, supporting Iranians fighting for freedom.

A crackdown against students at Sharif University, an elite university in Tehran, known as Iran’s MIT. Social media videos showed security forces beating, shooting and detaining students from the prestigious university.

2:28 B.C. Iranian community concerned with crackdowns on students in Iran

Iranian singer Shervin Hajipour is arrested, accused of spreading anti-government propaganda over a song that later won him a Grammy.

2:14 Social media playing major role in Iranian protests

Tehran sends military tanks to crush protests in the Kurdish town of Sanandaj in the country’s west.

2:07 Port Moody woman fears for friends and family in Iran

Iranian state media reports that at least eight people are dead after a fire broke out at the country’s notorious Evin Prison, injuring dozens. Human rights advocates believe the regime set the fire themselves.

2:38 Deadly fire in Iranian prison brings back memories for Vancouver man

Reports emerged of dozens of Iranian children being killed by the regime during protests.

1:56 Iran schoolchildren reportedly killed for protesting

Global News speaks exclusively to an Iranian-Canadian woman who took part in the protests in Iran. She says she saw the brutality of the regime as security forces shot directly at a protestor.

2:34 Metro Vancouver woman witnesses convulsions rocking Iran

A group of Iranian-Canadian lawyers joins forces with others in the U.S. and Iran to identify Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Members and their associates living in Canada.

2:49 Lawyers create database of Iranian Revolutionary Guard members and associates in Canada

Iran carries out its first execution of an individual for taking part in the Women, Life, Freedom uprisings.  Twenty-three- year-old Mohsen Shekari is executed by hanging.

2:27 Iranian-Canadians disturbed by execution over anti-government protests

Iran carries out a second execution linked to the revolutionary movement.  Twenty-three-year-old Majidreza Rahnavard was hanged in the city of Mashhad.  He was convicted of “enmity against God.” Human rights groups say protestors have no due process and are being sentenced to death after sham trials.

2:22 Iranian-Canadians call on MPs to take a stand against regime’s crackdown

The third anniversary of the downing of Ukraine International Airlines Flight PS752. All 176 people on board were killed when the IRGC shot down the civilian plane. In cities across Canada, mourners mark the grim anniversary. Protests break out across Iran to commemorate the downing of the flight, once again calling for regime change.

Reports emerge of Iran’s security forces targeting the eyes of anti-regime protestors. According to the Centre for Human Rights in Iran, hundreds of Iranians have been blinded by the regime. Many of them shared photos of themselves on social media after the anti-regime uprisings. Global News spoke to Saman, a 30-year-old Iranian national, left blind in one eye for the rest of his life.

3:03 Iranian demonstrator left blind in one eye

Iranians all over the world celebrate their first Nowruz during the Women, Life, Freedom movement. Many are filled with anguish and hope.

2:19 Dark clouds hang over Nowruz celebrations

After the Persian New Year holiday hiatus, reports resurface of an increase in chemical attacks on Iranian school girls. Whatever the substance is, thousands of young girls are falling ill while in class across Iran. It left them coughing, choking, and unable to breathe and many have been hospitalized.

2:22 Metro Vancouver activists play key role tracking violence against women and girls in Iran

The United Nations says they are appalled by Iran’s ‘execution spree.’ The founder of Oslo-based non-governmental organization Iran Human Rights, Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, said in the month of May alone at least 59 people have been executed in Iran and since the start of this year, at least 223 people. The UN calls the record “abominable.”

2:34 Chilling execution spree in Iran

Three imprisoned Iranian women journalists, Niloofar Hamedi, Elaheh Mohammadi, and Narges Mohammadi, were awarded the 2023 UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize.

Iran executes three men over charges linked to the movement.

This date marks 40 years since 10 Baha’i women were executed by the Islamic Republic for refusing to renounce their faith. It is also the launch of the #OurStoryisOne Campaign to commemorate one of the most tragic days in Iran’s history.

2:27 Anniversary of hangings of 10 Bahá’í Women, launch of #OurstoryIsOne campaign

Canada, Sweden, Ukraine and the United Kingdom takes Iran to the International Court of Justice over the downing of PS752.

2:32 Canadian families who lost loved ones on flight PS752 seek justice from The Hague

Rights advocates condemn ‘gender apartheid’ as Iran’s morality police ramp up enforcement.

2:10 Iran’s morality police return to streets for headscarf patrols

The death sentence for dissident rapper Toomaj Salehi was overturned but he was sentenced to more than six years in prison. Salehi used his lyrics to speak out against the regime. He was arrested during nationwide uprisings last year.

2:00 Vancouver rally held in support of Iranian rapper Toomaj Salehi

Iran ramps up enforcement across the country in the weeks leading up to the anniversary of Amini. The families of protestors are reportedly being arrested. Human rights groups and sources inside Iran believe the regime is using the arrests as a scare tactic to prevent massive protests for the one-year anniversary of Amini’s death.

Safa Aeli, Amini’s uncle, is arrested, according to a family member and a human rights group.

2:20 Mahsa Amini: How the world is marking the 1-year anniversary

September 16, 2023, marks the one-year anniversary of the death of Amini and the nationwide protests. Demonstrations to commemorate the one-year anniversary is taking place in more than 200 cities across the world.  A few thousand people are in downtown Vancouver for a rally at the Vancouver Art Gallery, according to police.