As Israel-Iran war rages, Mahsa Amini’s ghost still haunts Khamenei

New Delhi: As the world’s attention returns to Iran, this time over missiles and war with Israel, there’s a chilling silence about something far older, and possibly more lasting, which was the rights of women, and the price they’ve paid under Ayatollah Khamenei’s rule.

It’s easy to forget, but it shouldn’t be. Just a few years ago, Iran’s streets were full of women and men shouting Mahsa Amini’s name. And for good reason.

She was 22 years old, from Saqqez in Iran’s Kurdistan province. On September 13, 2022, she travelled to Tehran with her family. Like any young woman, she wanted to visit the city and see relatives. She wore a loose headscarf, as many Iranian women do, careful, but not rigidly following every detail of the law.

But in Iran, even small choices about clothes can become matters of life and death. On that day, the “morality police,” a special force tasked with enforcing Islamic dress codes, spotted Mahsa at a metro station. They accused her of not wearing her hijab “properly.” What did that mean? Her hair was peeking out from under the scarf; her clothes were judged “immodest.”

There was no warning. No gentle reminder. The officers detained Mahsa on the spot, pulled her into their van, and took her to a detention centre for a “re-education class.”

Eyewitnesses say she was beaten in the van. CCTV shows her collapsing at the centre, just hours after her arrest.

Three days later, on September 16, Mahsa died in the hospital. Her family and witnesses allege she was severely beaten, her head injured, her body bruised. The authorities denied wrongdoing, calling her death the result of “pre-existing conditions.” But Mahsa’s family said she was perfectly healthy.

What happened next was something no one expected. Instead of quietly accepting the loss, Iranians—especially women—took to the streets. They chanted her name. They burned their hijabs. They cut their hair as a symbol of protest. Her funeral became the first of many mass protests. “Woman, Life, Freedom” became the rallying cry, echoing across cities and across the world.

The Khamenei government responded with force: beatings, arrests, internet blackouts. Human rights groups say hundreds were killed in the protests, and thousands arrested. Yet, Mahsa’s face became a symbol. People realised what was still happening to millions of women living under strict rules, watched by the morality police, and unable to make simple choices about their own lives.

Now, as the world focuses on missiles and military strategy, it’s worth pausing to ask: Have we forgotten Mahsa Amini? Has the outrage faded now that the news cycle has moved on?

Why this still haunts Khamenei

Today, as Ayatollah Khamenei sits in Tehran, orchestrating war and condemning the West, oppressed Iranian women like Mahsa Amini must be wishing for justice to be served to the oppressor.

Every woman forced into silence, every mother afraid for her daughter’s safety, is a living reminder of Khamenei’s atrocities against Iranian women.

And yet, look around: the same world leaders who once condemned Mahsa’s murder now shake hands with Khamenei, make deals, and praise his “resistance.” Supporters of the Iranian regime, whether inside or outside Iran, or especially Indian supporters, would do well to ask themselves: Do you really stand for women’s rights, or have you forgotten Mahsa Amini?

If you support Khamenei now, with the world’s cameras turned on Iran, you need to remember what his rule means for women. You need to remember Mahsa Amini—killed not for what she did, but for who she was. Her death is a stain on Khamenei, a stain that no amount of propaganda can erase.

Mahsa Amini’s death should haunt not just Khamenei, but all of us who care about justice.