Dissent Dispatch: Your Weekly Update

In this week’s Unbelief Brief, we look at charges against an Iranian actress for dancing in public and Erdogan’s vow to purge military officials for supporting a secular democracy.

EXMNA Insights looks back on the second anniversary of Iran’s hijab protests.

Persecution Tracker Update: Pakistani Police shoot a blasphemy suspect in custody.

The Unbelief Brief

In Iran, an actress has been criminally charged with “violating Islamic norms” for… dancing. Anywhere else in the world, with only a few exceptions (such as the Taliban’s Afghanistan), a statement so absurd would be taken as a joke. The actress, Sahar Dolatshahi, was caught red-handed in a TV program “moving her head and shoulders to music.” Iran’s authorities opened an investigation and brought charges against her for this display of immodesty. “Judicial action” was reportedly also taken against “the platform responsible for distributing the series” in which Dolatshahi acted.

This is the second instance of a high-profile actress in Iran being criminally charged for failure to comply with Islamic norms in two months. It is no wonder that such a dystopian state of affairs draws the sympathy and indignation of those unaccustomed to living under the nightmare of Islamic theocracy. It is fitting, then, that two years after the murder of Mahsa Amini in police custody, Parisians have taken to the streets and marched to demand Iranian women’s freedom, coinciding with a hunger strike that 34 women imprisoned in Iran are undertaking. The situation of extreme dissatisfaction with the tyrannical government of the Islamic Republic is not sustainable, and something—sooner or later—is bound to break.

Finally, a Muslim-majority country which still has some semblance of secularism is finding itself under continued and renewed pressure from leaders who seek to destroy it. In Turkey, President Erdogan has vowed a “purge” of military officials who allowed graduating military students to take an oath to defend a “secular, democratic Turkey.” This particular reference to secularism and democracy in the oath of service was removed two years ago, in line with the desire of the conservative Erdogan government to break down the barriers between mosque and state. It is no surprise he would take issue with it. Under Erdogan’s governance the systematic assault on the principles upon which Turkey was founded seems to be never ending.

EXMNA Insights

On this second anniversary of Mahsa Amini’s tragic death at the hands of Iran’s morality police, we at Ex-Muslims of North America (EXMNA) honor her memory and the brave women who continue to resist Iran’s draconian mandatory hijab law. Amini’s unjust arrest and death for allegedly violating the country’s strict hijab requirements sparked a global outcry against a law rooted not in morality but in control and oppression. 

In his first press conference since becoming president, Masoud Pezeshkian reassured women that “The morality police were not supposed to confront [women]. I will follow up so they don't bother [them]". This promise, however, is doubtful to carry any weight since a new “Hijab and Chastity Bill” is currently in the final stages of approval which will carry even harsher penalties for women who refuse to wear the hijab. 

Iran’s mandatory hijab law is emblematic of a broader system that seeks to police women’s bodies and choices. By criminalizing the simple act of choosing whether or not to wear a headscarf, the Iranian regime enforces a narrow, patriarchal view of womanhood—one in which women's value is measured by their adherence to oppressive standards of modesty. Women who have bravely removed their hijabs in protest have faced brutal crackdowns, beatings, and imprisonment, exposing the regime’s fear of women’s autonomy.

At its core, hijab mandates and the modesty culture that sustains them are built on the same foundations of misogyny that have long been used to justify the subjugation of women. Whether it’s in Iran, elsewhere in the Islamic world or in the West, modesty and purity cultures reduce women to objects of temptation and shame, rather than allowing them to exist as full, autonomous human beings. We must continue to stand with the women of Iran and around the world, fighting for a future where every individual’s freedom of choice is respected. Mahsa Amini's legacy demands nothing less.

Persecution Tracker Update

A police officer in Pakistan shot a blasphemy suspect dead while the suspect was in custody—more about that here.

Until next week,

The Team at Ex-Muslims of North America

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