Revolution in Iran gaining momentum, says activist and journalist Masih Alinejad

4 November 2022, 18:07 | Updated: 4 November 2022, 18:25

Iranian journalist and activist Masih Alinejad speaks to LBC

By Sam Sholli

The revolution in Iran is "gaining momentum", Iranian activist and journalist Masih Alinejad has told LBC.

She made the comment while speaking today to LBC's Shelagh Fogarty.

The exchange has come as Iran has been rocked by anti-government protests sparked by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in police custody.

Masih Alinejad told Shelagh: "This is a protest for dignity, for basic rights."

She also said: "For 40 years, women in Iran have been told what to wear, how to think, what kind of lifestyle to follow.

"But this is the time that the revolution is gaining momentum.

"This is just the beginning of the end.

"People - men and women - are shoulder to shoulder. And they're saying that [they're] ready to die but [they] won't live with humiliation."

Later in the exchange, Mrs Alinejad also told Shelagh: "It didn't need for hundreds of people to be killed for the whole world to understand that this is like ISIS in power in Iran killing women."

READ MORE: Omid Djalili says women ‘not scared’ as ‘conscious, organic movement’ is protesting in Iran

READ MORE: Foreign Secretary says Iranian regime trying to blame 'everybody but themselves' as oppression of people 'bubbling up'

Comedian and actor Omid Djalili last month told James that “this revolution has been coming for 43 years” in Iran.

He also told James that he thinks “this is a major feminist movement happening under our very eyes, and if we don't get behind it then shame on us really”.

Mahsa Amini died in custody after being arrested by Iran’s so-called morality police for allegedly not wearing the hijab in accordance with the Iranian regime’s strict standards.

Iranian authorities have said Mahsa suffered sudden heart failure after she was taken into custody, but her father Amjad Amini has denied that she had been in bad health.

Mr Amini has said that Mahsa’s 17-year-old brother Kiarash, who was there when Mahsa was detained, was told that his sister had been beaten.

Earlier this week, Norway-based Iran Human Rights said at least 277 people have been killed in ongoing nationwide protests.

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