Confronting morality: Women under the Islamic Republic

In September 2022, Jina Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish Iranian, died while in custody of the Gasht-e-Ershad, Iran’s morality police. Her death sparked the largest protests Iran has seen in decades. Generations of Iranian women are speaking out about the impact decades of repression has had on them and their families.

Part 1

Nilu

“There’s never any knowing what sparks a revolution. It’s just, enough loss. Enough torture. Enough abuse.”

Part 2

Sahar

“One by one they would call us to the room and show us the video that they took from us.”

Part 3

M.S.

“They put me into custody and held me there for the night. There was a woman there that I’ll never forget.”

Part 4

Elnaz

“That’s how I learned a bit of English and how I learned about many things that I could not say in society.”

Part 5

Zhina

“I shaved my hair the first day of the protests…. Can you imagine someone’s hair could be a reason for their death?”

RESPONSIBILITIES

In addition to illustrating the five stories, I also designed and programmed the pages and created a landing page for the series.

I used responsive web design to tailor the presentation so that the stories work well on a phone or a larger desktop monitor. The comics load significantly faster than videos, which is critical in VOA markets with limited bandwidth.

I modified a storyboard tool I built using Google Sheets to help simplify the translation process. The final project was available in English, Persian, Dari, Pashto and Kurdish.