Sarir Mostafanejad and daughter Saba join hundreds of people as they demand for an end to the Islamic Republic’s rule in Iran at City Hall in downtown Houston on Sunday, Oct. 16, 2022.
Mati Rodriquez remembers when, as an English teacher in Iran, some of her colleagues walked into school late, pale and anxious. They had just been detained by the nation's morality police that enforces strict laws around what women are allowed to wear, and the incident had left them shaken.
Many in the crowd bore signs that read"Hijab is not a choice until its a choice for everyone." Organizers with bullhorns led the large crowd in chants of"Women, Life, Freedom," in Farsi, and"Down with the dictator," a reference to the theocratic Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, in English.according to the Migration Policy Institute
Amini was arrested Sept. 13 in Tehran for wearing her hijab too loosely, and the country's morality police, which have reportedly grown more violent since the election of President Ebrahim Raisi last year, allegedly beat her to death. Iranian authorities deny the charge, saying Amini, who had no reported health issues to speak of, died of a heart attack.