Sepideh Roshno's Account of the Midnight Attack by 'Ten Twelve' Agents: They Said They Would Break Your Neck

A year after Sepideh Roshno's arrest due to civil disobedience against mandatory hijab, this writer shared details about the violent raid by police officers on her home. On Sunday, July 16, Sepideh Roshno, a writer and editor, posted a photo of her broken door on her Instagram account, stating that a police officer had knocked on her apartment door at 'midnight' and introduced himself as 'Mr. Rahimi's son.' She explained that 'Mr. Rahimi' was the building manager, and if his 'very young son' needed anything, he would communicate via WhatsApp. She added, 'I froze and was trembling. Again, a stronger knock on the door came, saying I am Mr. Rahimi's son, please open.' The voice of a middle-aged man behind the wooden door was demanding. 'My body trembled.' Sepideh Roshno also emphasized that she could only hide her mobile phone. She recounted that when she did not open the door, 'a hand was pounding on the door, saying, 'Ma'am, we are from the police, open up.' She described how 'the tension behind the door was trembling,' and suddenly remembered 'the 8:30 AM bus.' This civil rights activist opposing mandatory hijab explained that she went to 'the bedroom balcony' and, while the officers were 'tearing apart' her home, she shouted 'help, help' to seek assistance from the people. Sepideh Roshno added, 'Suddenly, the voices of several people standing below the balcony rose, saying, 'Don’t scream, or we will come up and break your neck.' In another part of her post, she wrote, 'About ten or twelve people, maybe more or less, were searching every corner of the house. One person was filming. Two others had notebooks. But my humiliation was shared among all of them. Everyone took their share and said something.' Two months before the death of Mahsa Amini in the custody of the morality police, Sepideh Roshno, a civil rights activist opposing mandatory hijab, was arrested in July 2022 after releasing a video of her confrontation with a 'morality enforcer.' In that video, a woman supporting the Islamic Republic threatened Roshno, saying she would film her and report her to the IRGC. After these threats, passengers forced the woman to get off the bus. Nevertheless, Sepideh Roshno was arrested, and after a while, her 'televised confession' was released, which sparked widespread reactions on social media. Social media users posted in support of Sepideh Roshno and against mandatory hijab. Now, not only has civil disobedience against mandatory hijab increased, but there have also been nationwide protests in Iran over the past year, with protesters calling for the abolition of the Islamic Republic. Mohsen Sazgara, a political activist, told VOA that the dominant discourse in Iranian society is one of democracy and secularism, and this new discourse has separated society from the government.