The Future of Iran: 1 Year Since the Death of Mahsa Amini

On September 16, 2022, 22-year-old Mahsa Amini died in the custody of the Iranian morality police after being detained for failing to adhere to the country’s strict public dress code. Amini’s death sparked an outrage that reached far beyond the country’s borders–with the hashtag #MahsaAmini getting over 80 million tweets and retweets worldwide. Just days after her passing, Mahsa became a symbol that her compatriots used to express decades of suppressed frustration towards their repressive regime. Protests erupted, dissidents were jailed, and the world watched as the Iranian people fought to avenge Mahsa. The movement was catapulted into the spotlight, greatly aided by social media. However, as many scholars have warned, the oversaturation of content that we are exposed to through social media creates a compassion fatigue problem. Within several months of this tragedy, the public eye had largely moved on and the people of Iran were once again on their own. Now, almost a year later, we ask: what came of these protests and where does Iran find itself today? Join The Charles Malik Institute on September 14 at noon ET for a conversation with Philos Fellow Farhad Rezaei, as we discuss the legacy that Mahsa Amini has left and what the future of Iran looks like.