Iran protests: Rallies and graffiti worldwide in support of Iranian women

A woman spray-paints messages against "macho country" Iran on a wall of the Iranian Embassy in Mexico City in solidarity with Iranian women and in memory of Jina Mahsa Amini — the 22-year-old woman who died in custody after she was detained by Iranian authorities for allegedly violating strict Islamic dress codes for women.

Protests calling for the fall of the Islamic regime have swept the Middle Eastern nation following the death of the 22-year-old in mid September. Authorities have denied responsibility for Amini's death but few believe them. Many women have experienced the brutality of the so-called morality police. This image shows protesters taking to the streets in Frankfurt in support of Iranian women.

In Iran and abroad, many women have been cutting off locks of their hair in a gesture of support for the protest movement. On a wall in the Italian city of Milan, directly opposite the Iranian consulate, Marge Simpson — a character in the animated sitcom "The Simpsons" — is shown doing the same. The picture was taken by street artist AleXsandro Palombo.

In Paris, it's not just murals that commemorate Jina Mahsa Amini and the protest movement. The French capital is also planning to posthumously make Amini an honorary citizen, Mayor Anne Hidalgo has said. A location in the city would also be named after Amini "so that no one forgets her," she noted. "Paris will always be on the side of those who fight for their rights and their freedom."

Artists from "Kollektiv ohne Namen" (Collective Without Names) have painted a picture of the Kurdish activist on a vacant building in Frankfurt. Next to it are the Kurdish words "Jin, Jiyan, Azadi" — women, life, freedom. This is the omnipresent slogan of the demonstrators against the Islamic regime in Tehran, borrowed from the Kurdish feminist movement in Syria.

The uprising of girls and women against their oppressors in Iran deserves solidarity, say many women worldwide. And they are taking to the streets around the world — as seen here in Krakow, Poland. In many places across the globe, women are disadvantaged or even discriminated against because of their gender. The idea of a feminist revolution in Iran has attracted their support.

Art students from Azad University in Tehran protested in front of the art faculty building on Monday, October 9. The red paint on their hands symbolizes the bloody repression of the protests by the security forces.

The protests following the death of Jina Mahsa Amini are not directed solely against the strict dress codes for girls and women. Throughout the country, demonstrators are questioning the legitimacy of the Islamic regime and chanting slogans like "Get rid of the mullahs" or "Death to the dictator," targeting the country's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.