Iran-born Green MP Golriz Ghahraman has urged the Government to do more to hold the Iranian regime to account, amid ongoing and intensifying protests over the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini.
The Kurdish woman was arrested under Iran's harsh hijab laws and died in custody - allegedly beaten to death by the country's morality police. At least 13 people have died and over a thousand protesters have been arrested in the ensuing wave of demonstrations.
Ghahraman, who was born in Iran and came to New Zealand as a refugee, told Breakfast today that watching what's happening in Iran is "absolutely terrifying, it's exhilarating - for all Iranians I think and probably for most women across the world - to see these incredible young women just stripping their hijab and saying enough is enough".
"This is unprecedented in the 43-year history of this regime, this is an incredibly brutal regime. I do remember that anxiety of leaving the house, even as a seven (or) eight year old."
Ghahraman said that, whenever she went out in public in Iran with any woman in her family, they would need to closely check that their hair was sufficiently covered.
"But women kept resisting, it's really important to hold that because this has never been their culture," she said. "They are Muslim women, a lot of them, but they don't want to be told what to wear and how to do that."
And that resistance was at the risk of death or torture, Ghahraman stressed, saying her mother would wear red lipstick like a "coat of arms" as a way of pushing back but "the terror is real".
Demonstrators gathered across the country today to protest against the Iranian regime. (Source: 1News)
"When you grow up in a regime like that, there's no way of shielding children. You know that your parents are terrified, that all the adults around you are terrified."
On Saturday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade issued a statement saying that the Government "places great importance on human rights" and regularly express their concerns about the situation in Iran.
"In May 2021 we held an inaugural Human Rights Dialogue with Iran where we had a frank exchange on a number of areas, including gender equality and the rights of women and girls and will continue to raise these issues," the statement read.
But Ghahraman said the violent clampdown on the protests in Iran is "a crime against humanity basically" and she wants to see more from the Government.
"I think New Zealanders, and in particular the Iranian community, expect our government to acknowledge that what is happening is some of the most grave human rights breaches. People are being killed for protesting, people are being killed for showing a piece of hair.
"The Iranian regime is one of the biggest allies of the Russian regime that we've been condemning so, tyranny begets tyranny and we do need to stand up to these regimes equally and say actually, Iranian lives matter too."
Later on Breakfast, Deputy Prime Minister Grant Robertson responded and said the Government were following developments in Iran closely: "We're concerned about what we're seeing here, we want to make sure there's a proper independent investigation into what's happened and that those basic human rights are upheld."
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