Two years after Mahsa Amini’s death, what has changed for Iranian women?

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00:00We can now bring in France 24's Annette Young, host of the 51%. Annette, great to see you.

00:05Since Massamini's death, though, there has been a change in Iran's leadership. We now have a

00:10reformer, Massoud Pazeshkian, who is the president. How much has really changed in the country when

00:18it comes to women and wearing the hijab, but not wearing the hijab?

00:22Certainly, despite the fact that he was voted in on a campaign of reform,

00:26the reality is, for many women, it's still very difficult. However, there are some incredibly

00:31brave women who've taken to social media, not wearing a hijab, just wearing their hair,

00:38naturally. These are some photos that were captured by Associated Press.

00:43But the country's ultimate authority remains the 85-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali

00:49Hamadei, who has said that unveiling is both religiously forbidden and politically forbidden.

00:56However, despite this defiance of these women doing what they can to protest against

01:02this enforcement of wearing the hijab, the UN has described an expansion of repressive measures

01:09and policies by Iran's authorities to punish women. The UN says Iranian security forces

01:16have basically escalated pre-existing pattern of physical violence, including beating,

01:24kicking and slapping women and girls. They're also using drone surveillance as well, which is

01:32extraordinary, and monitoring women's activities very closely indeed. Those women that we just

01:39saw there and posting their images to social media certainly do it at high risk to themselves.

01:45In addition, there is a new hijab and chastity bill, which is still to be voted on. It's in

01:51its final stages of being approved. Observers say it's most likely will be passed. And the bill

01:58will issue harsher penalties for women who don't wear the hijab, including incredibly high financial

02:05fines, longer prison sentences, restrictions on work and also bans on educational opportunities

02:12and travel. So it's not looking too good. So much for a reformer president. But so where

02:18does this leave the future of that protest movement? It's still there. And if anything,

02:24observers will argue that Iran has irrevocably changed since the death of Massa Amani.

02:32In the last two years, however, the death penalty and criminal laws, as you've seen,

02:36have been used to terrorise Iranians, both men and women, and discourage them from protesting.

02:43And there is also a harsher pattern of sentencing, including sentencing women activists to death,

02:50including some belonging to the country's ethnic minorities, following their convictions or

02:55national security offences. Out of the country, attempts at finding harmony among the opposition,

03:04and keep in mind there are disparate groups of monarchists, anti-religious people, liberals and

03:12so on, is basically collapsed among that acrimony. So there are some who still argue that the anger

03:19is still very present and that at this stage, things at some point will have to move forward.

03:26But at the same time, you've got to remember that the religious authorities very much

03:30run the show on what one can wear and what cannot. And as far as they're concerned,

03:35they're not letting up at all. They're not budging for now. But Annette,

03:38there is this international push to declare gender apartheid a crime. This, of course,

03:44in the aftermath of what we've seen in Iran and also Afghanistan. Let's not forget that story.

03:49Is there broad support for such a move? Well, you know, the thing is the international

03:54community does have power. It can continue to issue a range of statements of platitudes,

04:00but they now have a tool which could be used against the Iranian and Afghan regimes. And that

04:07is this concept of implementing gender apartheid as an international crime. It started off in the

04:15UK, basically widening support among a range of Afghan and Iranian women living in exile,

04:22who've now been backed by legal experts across the world. And they're looking for an expansion

04:28of the legal definition of apartheid under both international and national law to include severe

04:35forms of institutionalised gender based discrimination with very harsh penalties

04:40attached, i.e. sanctions. Now, last month, I spoke to Iranian human rights researcher

04:46Masa Alamardani and asked her what in fact was being done. Let's take a listen to what she told

04:51me. Well, we're speaking at a great time right before the draft convention on crimes against

04:58humanity is about to be voted on at the UN. So in order for gender apartheid to be added to this,

05:05the opportunity for it to be added to this will be a game changer in codifying gender apartheid

05:12within international law, allowing Afghan women, Iranian women and other victims of these systems

05:17of oppression to find justice within the international system, to put the appropriate

05:23pressure on governments like the Taliban, to not allow them to act without impunity.

05:30Thank you very much for that, Annette Young there.

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