Another Protester Joins the 'Girls of Revolution Street'

On Thursday, February 15, a short video and photos of another protester against compulsory hijab in Iran were released. It is reported that this protester removed her hijab at the same location where at least two other 'Girls of Revolution Street' protested. Earlier in January, a video was shared on social media showing a young woman without a hijab waving her white scarf on a height in Revolution Street, Tehran. This act was immediately interpreted as a protest against 'compulsory hijab', and she was dubbed the 'Girl of Revolution Street'. The only name associated with this young woman that has circulated on social media is 'Vida Mohadd'. Shortly after, another young girl went to the same height, hung her hijab on a stick, and waved it. She has been identified as 'Narges Hosseini' and earned the title of 'the second Girl of Revolution Street'. Now, after a few days of pause, a video has once again surfaced on social media platforms including Facebook and Twitter, showing that another protester has joined the 'Girls of Revolution Street'. According to online messages, this young woman stood on an electric pole at the intersection of Revolution and Vasal Shirazi streets in Tehran, the same location where the first two girls protested. The video shows a young girl silently holding her white scarf while standing on the electric pole, with a significant crowd, mostly men, watching her. Then, as a police car enters the frame, it appears that police officers are pulling this young protesting girl down from the electric pole. According to online messages, the police took this young woman away from the scene. The protester has been identified as Azam Jangravi, and an image of her last Instagram post has been shared, stating that she began her political activity with the Reformist Women's Assembly and the Kargozaran Party but has grown tired of this process and declared 'enough with slogans'. She emphasized that her action 'is not related to any organization, group, or individual, either inside or outside of Iran' and that she undertook this act 'to confront compulsory hijab'. In the first week that the 'Girls of Revolution Street' became known in Iran and the world, several others, including some women in chadors and even a few men, stood on heights in support of them and waved their hijabs on sticks. Earlier on Tuesday, February 13, an interview with Narges Hosseini was published, the protester now known as 'the second Girl of Revolution Street'. In her interview, Ms. Hosseini stated that a judge in court told her that the young woman known as 'the first Girl of Revolution Street' was 'crazy'. According to Narges Hosseini, even the prosecutor brought Vida Mohadd's case file for her to see with her own eyes that 'this woman is crazy'. In response, Ms. Hosseini protested the bringing of Vida Mohadd's case file, stating that Vida Mohadd's action 'whether crazy or sane, was a beautiful and symbolic act for me and should not have been silenced'. According to Article 638 of the Islamic Penal Code, 'Women who appear in public without proper hijab will be sentenced to imprisonment from 10 days to two months or fined from 50,000 to 500,000 rials.'