US President Joe Biden pledges solidarity with Iran girls amid anti-hijab protests

US President Joe Biden pledged solidarity with Iranian girls as eight folks have been reported killed in large protests over the loss of life of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who had been detained by the nation’s “morality police” for violating the Islamic nation’s conservative costume code.

Addressing the United Nations shortly after a defiant speech by Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, Biden saluted the protesters whereas renewing his help for reviving a nuclear accord with Tehran.

“Today we stand with the brave citizens and the brave women of Iran who right now are demonstrating to secure their basic rights,” Biden informed the General Assembly.

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Iranian authorities and a Kurdish rights group reported rising loss of life tolls as protests entered the fifth day and recent restrictions have been positioned on social media.

The unrest in Tehran has now risen to a different stage with a video going viral of a lady chopping her hair in public within the capital. Upon seeing this, a number of girls on social media began importing their movies of chopping off hair and setting their hijabs on hearth.

Amini’s loss of life for “unsuitable attire” attracted robust ire as, in recent times, tens of millions of Iranian girls have opposed the regulation which makes the hijab obligatory for girls in Iran. Under Iran’s sharia (Islamic) regulation, imposed after the 1979 revolution, girls are obliged to cowl their hair and put on lengthy, loose-fitting garments to disguise their figures. Violators face public rebuke, fines, or arrest. The morality police are charged with imposing that and different restrictions, which have been criticized in recent times, particularly for its remedy of younger girls.

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In his UN deal with, Raisi referred to the deaths of Indigenous girls in Canada in addition to Israeli actions within the Palestinian territories and the Islamic State group’s “savagery” in opposition to girls from spiritual minority teams.

“So long as we have this double standard, where attention is solely focused on one side and not all equally, we will not have true justice and fairness,” Raisi stated.

He additionally pushed again on Western phrases to revive a 2015 nuclear accord, insisting that Iran “is not seeking to build or obtain nuclear weapons and such weapons have no place in our doctrine.”

— ENDS —