Item Summary

Azadi – Azadi Tower, also known as Freedom Tower, is an iconic landmark and symbol of Tehran, the capital of Iran. It is one of the most significant architectural structures in the country, a symbol of freedom, and holds cultural and historical significance in the country's modern identity.

Schoolgirls – Iranian schoolgirls have been at the forefront of the women's freedom movement in Iran, after the police killing of Mahsa Jina Amini. They have been protesting against mandatory hijabs and have faced alleged chemical gas attacks during protests since November 2022, with reports of thousands of students being affected in subsequent months.

Sharif University – Sharif University of Technology is a prominent public research university located in Tehran, Iran, known for its excellence in engineering education in the Middle East. During the Iran 2022 protests, Sharif University served as a focal point for student-led demonstrations against the regime. Security forces conducted numerous raids on the university, resulting in the arrest of students. These detained students were reported to have endured torture while in custody.

Football – During the 2022 World Cup, the Iranian national soccer team faced growing unpopularity among some Iranians due to their association with the oppressive regime. This led to people celebrating their loss, expressing their anger and frustration by burning or tearing up posters of the players and chanting slogans against them in public places.

Kian – Kian Pirfalak, was a nine-year-old boy from the southwestern Iranian city of Izeh in Khuzestan Province. He was shot and killed by the security forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran on November 16, 2022, while he was inside his parent's vehicle during a protest staged in response to the police killing of Mahsa Jina Amini. A video capturing Kian testing his hand-made boat and uttering the phrase "in the name of the God of rainbows'' gained immense attention online. This symbolic reference to rainbows has since emerged as a significant motif within the various memorials honoring Kian.

Mahsa – Mahsa Jina Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish woman from the northwestern city of Saqqez, hailed from Kurdistan, Iran. She was arrested by the Morality Police on the accusation of not wearing the “proper” hijab, She ultimately lost her life due to torture while in police custody. Amini's death sparked the Woman, Life, Freedom movement, originating in Saqqez and Kurdistan before spreading across Iran and beyond. The movement's rallying cry, "Jin, Jiyan, Azadî," meaning "Woman, Life, Freedom" in Kurdish (and was also translated as “Zan, Zendegi, Azadi” into Persian), has become a symbol in the fight for justice and liberation.