During the past four weeks, we witnessed massive uprisings in almost all cities and provinces of Iran. This was triggered by the murder of Mahsa (Zhina) Amini by so-called morality police, just because she was wearing her headscarf “improperly.” The murder of Mahsa by thugs of the Islamist regime has triggered a new uprising in Iran against hijab and the regime that started by a women’s movement.

Today, women are leading the charge at the front of this uprising; some are taking off their head covering and some even burning their scarf or cutting their hair in front of cheering crowds. As a symbolic rejection of the Islamist regime, there is open resistance against the hijab (covering women’s hair).

Thousands of people, women, university students, teachers’ unions, primary and secondary school students, workers unions, and Retail outlets, small businesses and ordinary people have been gathering and demonstrating or in striking in different cities every day against the policy of forced hijab, economic and political suppression and other oppressive conditions imposed by Iran’s Islamist state. Since the establishment of the Islamic Republic more than 43 years ago, tens of thousands have been detained and many thousands tortured and executed. Just during the past few weeks, over 200 people have been killed, among them primary and secondary school children, and thousands injured or arrested and tortured, among them newspaper reporters. We also witnessed an internet shutdown by the regime in order to limit communication.

People are also striking at symbols of state authority, burning images of the supreme religious leader Ayatollah Khamenei, and fighting in the streets with the morality police and other repressive forces like the Basij paramilitaries and Revolutionary Guard Corps (RGC). The people of Iran realize that they can never achieve democracy or freedom under the current regime. People are chanting “Women-Life-Freedom,” that this anti-women regime should be overthrown.  They are also chanting “Death to the dictator” and a “corrupter of the Earth” (referring to Ayatollah Khomeini). It is a lie by the Iran Islamic regime that “forced Hijab as a cultural value.” In our view, Iranian and American people have more cultural values in common than many believe.

Today, the Iranian community in Chicago calls upon all people to sign this petition to:

• Abolish forced hijab rules and all repressive laws in Iran.
• Allow free speech, assembly and gathering according to human rights rules and regulations.
• Free all political prisoners.
• Free all trade union members and leaders who have been arrested or are in prison for fighting for better economic and working conditions.
• Defend LGBTQ rights in Iran
• Demand that the U.S. government to stop giving visas to those Iranian government agents who are responsible for murdering peaceful demonstrators or are a part of the repressive Iranian military forces. We also request the U.S. government to cancel their travel documents, permits and freeze their assets.
• Give access to the internet to all Iranian people inside of Iran, to enable them to communicate with each other and with those outside of the country electronically.

We also encourage American freedom lovers to contact us if they need to help.

Long Live International Solidarity!