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View Winners → Politics Oct 18, 2022
Iran protest October 15, 2022 - Sherman Oaks, CA Courtesy Craig Melville
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The Los Angeles Board of Supervisors agreed Tuesday to send a letter to President Joe Biden in support of protesters in Iran advocating for women’s rights and greater social, civil and political freedoms.
Proposed in a motion by Supervisors Hilda Solis and Sheila Kuehl, and unanimously approved by the board, the letter will commend the Biden administration for sanctioning Iran’s morality police and security and government officials, and express L.A. County’s opposition to the Iranian government’s efforts to restrict its citizens’ internet access.
The letter will also proclaim the county’s “support of women’s rights in Iran and for Iranians protesting for women’s rights and freedom abroad and here in the United States.”
In Iran, women are required by law to wear hijabs in public.
Mass protests around Iran erupted after Amini’s funeral. Under the slogan “women, life, freedom,” protesters have called for a number of reforms, including the end of Iran’s morality police, the end of Iran’s mandatory hijab law, and even the end of the country’s religious government establishment.
Solis said the women and girls leading the protests in Iran are inspiring for the fight for women’s rights everywhere.
L.A. County is home to the largest Iranian population outside of Iran. Sympathy protests and demonstrations in support of the protests in Iran have been regularly held around Southern California since the protests in Iran began.
According to the Iran Human Rights group, 215 people, including 27 children, have been killed by Iranian government forces and Iranian police since the protests began last month.
“This is not just one woman’s case, this is a reform movement now led by young women, old women, all women across all of our different communities,” Kuehl said. “I hope that this serves as a wake-up call for oppressive regimes worldwide, and I don’t let us escape in that panoply.”
