Iran Protests: The Truth Behind Schoolgirls’ “Hail Khamenei” Chants

School students have played a prominent role in the ongoing nationwide demonstrations sparked by the September 16 death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in the custody of morality police. They have joined the protest movement by removing their hijab at school, by writing “Woman, Life, Freedom” on blackboards, by pulling down pictures of Supreme leader Ali Khamenei and the founder father of the Islamic Republic, Ruhollah Khomeini, from classroom walls and by chanting slogans in support of the protesters.

In response, supporters of the regime are posting pictures and video of students, who allegedly oppose the wave of protests, students who are wearing a hijab and are writing “Hail Khamenei,” using an expression extensively used in prayers.

Iranian schools have become unsafe.

IranWire has found the true story behind such pictures taken in a girls’ school in Fars province, where protesting students were arrested after being forced to obey security forces.

Other girls’ schools have been raided by security forces; children have been beaten, arrested, and sometimes lost their lives.

Tavakoli Girls’ High School: Student are forced to pose for pictures in support of Khamenei

Zarghan is a small town near Shiraz, the capital of the southwestern province of Fars. On October 10, when the students at Tavakoli High School for girls were in class, an incident changed their idea of what school meant.

According to a school staff who shall remain anonymous for his safety, agents of the Intelligence Organization of the Revolutionary Guards in Zarghan, accompanied by the city’s Friday Prayers imam, went to the school, gave pictures of Khamenei to some students, and forced them to chant slogans in support of the supreme leader before taking pictures and shooting video.

Some students were also instructed to write “I respond to your call Khamenei” on the blackboards. The children first refused, saying they had bad handwriting, but they were forced to obey.

After the security forces left the building, the angry schoolgirls gathered in the schoolyard and chanted slogans against the Islamic Republic and its leader. They refused to return to class after the break, telling the principal: “We are not going to class. Why did they do this? Why did they force us to take pictures with portraits of Khamenei?”

The principal failed to convince the defiant children to return to their classes.

“The school remained under surveillance and the agents were close by,” the source says. “When they heard the voices coming from the school, they came in with the intention of assaulting and arresting the students, but the principal…ordered them to leave. Then Abbas Afrukhteh, head of Zarghan’s Department of Education, went to that school. The schoolgirls told him that he must get delete the pictures. He grabbed the hand of one of the girls and pushed her. The girls got angrier and pushed him out of the school. Then agents of the Intelligence Ministry went to that school and asked for the names of the protesting students, but the principal refused to answer and sent the girls home.”

“No matter how much they insisted, the principal and the school staff refused to give them the names. Apparently, the agents kept the principal and staff until the evening, but they refused to talk. Afterward, they called some of the school staff…to tell them they were fired. Then the agents stormed the school, but the principal threw them out.”

“They dismissed the principal and replaced him with a more compliant one who helped them identify the students. Afterward they raided their homes and arrested them.”

“We know the identities of two [arrested] sisters, Mahsa and Mehrsa Mousavi, but unfortunately we have no information about the rest of the students.”

After about a month, during which the family knew nothing about the two sisters, the pair were released. Neither the sisters nor their family are willing to talk about their detention. And no information is available about the other detained students.

Burqae Girls’ Vocational School in Qum: Students are beaten by a cleric

On November 20 in the northwestern city of Qum, a clergyman and a member of the paramilitary Basij force beat protesting schoolgirls at Burqae Girls’ Vocational School.

According to the Coordination Council of Iranian Educators Trade Union Organizations, students used foul language while they protested against a speech delivered by the clergyman. The cleric and the militiaman who was accompanying him reportedly reacted by slapping and kicking the students.

A video posted on Telegram shows an ambulance and police vehicle in front of the school. Some parents can be heard saying that the school is no longer a safe place for their children.

A Girls’ High School in Tehran: Students are taken to hospital

Last month, the reformist Tehran newspaper Etemad covered the unrest that hit a girls’ school in Tehran, quoting the father of one the students: “On October 17, a number of students at a girls’ high school in Tehran’s District 2 took off their hijab and chanted slogans. My daughter told me that not many students were chanting, but one of the teachers called one of the [security] agencies and asked them to come.”

“The students were scared and escaped to the lavatory. A teacher dragged them out and admonished them by using foul language. Then a female agent in military uniform inspected the students’ bags. After the inspection, three of them felt bad and an ambulance took them to a clinic.”

Shahed Alavi Girls’ High School in Ardebil: Student sustains injuries and dies

 Security forces raided Shahed Alavi Girls’ High School on October 12. In footage posted on social media two days later, students can be seen chanting “Death to the dictator!” The clips also show plainclothes security agents inside the school and an ambulance parked outside. Fifteen-year-old Asra Panahi was killed by the security agents, while a number of students were injured and arrested.

Authorities Concerned About Students’ Gatherings

 The nationwide protests have dramatically affected the situation in schools across Iran. A school principal tells IranWire: “Each October 31, schools always organized elections for the students’ councils. This year, however, school principals received a message on their Telegram channel that the elections would be held in late November. Apparently, [government officials] were hoping that by that time the situation would improve because they are very afraid of student gatherings, even in schools.”

“In the early weeks of each school year, we had a ‘Presidential Question’ which the students answered by participating in painting, drawing, poetry, calligraphy, writing, and photography competitions, but this year we didn’t hear about it.”

These stories are just the tip of iceberg of the violence Iranian schoolgirls have been subjected to aver the past two months. Since the protest movement kicked off, many children have been beaten, injured, arrested and killed by the security forces of the Islamic Republic and with the complicity of its judiciary. Therefore, human rights lawyers say that Iranian citizens must fight for their rights inside the country while at the same time appealing to the international community and tribunals abroad for justice.