Iran protests: MEP cuts off hair to show solidarity with women protesting death of Mahsa Amini

This is the moment a Swedish MEP cut her hair in the European Parliament to show solidarity with anti-government protesters in Iran.

It is one of several shows of support across Europe in recent days. 

Iran has been rocked by more than two weeks of protests following the death of 22-year-old Masha Amini on 16 September after she was stopped by Iran’s morality police for allegedly not adhering to the Islamic Republic’s strict dress code. 

“Until the women of Iran are free. We are going to stand with you”, said Abir Al-Sahlani as she cut her hair in front of MEPs in Strasbourg. 

Women in Iran have been burning headscarves and cutting off their hair to protest Amini’s death.

Meanwhile, in the Netherlands, hundreds of demonstrators marched to the Dutch Parliament in solidarity.

In Italy, visitors to the Maxxi, the National Centre for Contemporary Art and Architecture in Rome, left locks of their hair in a transparent box at the reception as a symbol of solidarity with Iranian women.

The box full of hair locks will be delivered to the Iranian embassy in Rome.

“They need to know that they are not alone. They need to know that what they are asking, which are basic human rights, is something we want to fight alongside them” says Giovanna Melandri, President of the MAXXI Contemporary Art Museum.

In Paris, French MPs and ministers observed a minute of silence in the National Assembly, in “homage” to Iranians who have “paid with their lives for their fight for freedom”.

“I would like to recall with you the memory of Mrs Mahsa Amini. It was on 16 September last in Iran”, said Yaël Braun-Pivet, President of the National Assembly.

“She was brutally arrested in the name of supposed virtue for a single strand of hair that protruded from her veil and died.

“Since then, women, men and all the youth of Iran, whose incredible courage must be admired, have expressed their thirst for freedom.”