• Killed: More than 500
• Executed: Seven as of May 2023
• Detained: Nearly 20,000
• Flashpoint: Death in detention of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish woman detained for “improper hijab”
• Scope and Location: Protests began in Tehran, where Amini died, and Kurdistan, her home province, but spread to all of Iran’s 31 provinces, including more than 100 cities and universities.

On September 16, 2023, Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish woman detained days earlier for “improper hijab,” died in the custody of Iran’s morality police. Protests erupted over her death and the regime’s suppression of personal freedoms. Protesters chanted “Woman, Life, Freedom” and “Death to the Dictator,” a reference to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, during nationwide demonstrations that lasted into early 2023. Many women and schoolgirls removed their mandatory headscarves in public in a symbolic show of protest against the government. The demonstrations were the most significant since the 2009 Green Movement. But security forces were able to maintain control. Most demonstrations included just dozens or hundreds of people, in contrast to the millions who turned out in 2009.

The protest hotbeds were in the capital of Tehran as well as the provinces of Kurdistan and Sistan and Baluchistan, home to the minority and oppressed Kurd and Baloch populations, respectively. University students and schoolgirls were also major drivers and organizers of protests. During the first two months, young Iranians demonstrated at some 140 universities in all 31 provinces.

The Islamic Republic denied any wrongdoing in Amini’s death and cracked down harshly on protesters. Security forces shot live ammunition, rubber bullets, and tear gas at demonstrators and beat those who gathered in public. They reportedly killed hundreds, including children, and detained nearly 20,000 people. The government surveilled Iranians through drones and social media and cut internet access.

The judiciary played a key role in the government crackdown. By early 2023, nearly 15,000 Iranians had reportedly served prison sentences and hundreds had been convicted of crimes. Dozens faced the death penalty, mainly for the crimes of “corruption on earth” and moharebeh, or “enmity against God.” Seven protesters were hanged, including three in mid-May 2023 despite the fact that protests had largely died out months earlier.