Activist Masih Alinejad speaks on Iran protests, and why women are behind the revolution

DUBAI: Iranian-American journalist and activist Masih Alinejad denounced in a recent interview the credibility of investigations said to be carried by the Iranian president into the death of a young woman that sparked protests. 
Alinejad said it was “unacceptable” for Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi to order a special investigation into the death of Mahsa Amini when he was the one responsible. 
“To be honest, when you say that Ebrahim Raisi wants to do an investigation it hurts, because he is the butcher,” Alinejad said during an interview with Al Arabiya TV presenter Talal Al-Haj at the United Nations headquarters in New York.
“He is the one who ordered the massacre, the mass executions of more than 5,000 prisoners, so how come he wants to investigate? I mean this is not acceptable from Iranians.”
“Iranian people know that killing and torturing is in the DNA of the Islamic Republic, and this is why people want an end to it,” she added.
A wave of nationwide protests, led mostly by women, was triggered in September following Amini’s death in police custody for revealing some of her hair while donning the Islamic headscarf. 
As the protests took over, many women have been taking off their headcovers and burning them in a show of defiance to the state. 
However, this was just a symbol of the freedom the Iranian people are demanding and it was not surprising that Iranians were fighting for this now, Alinejad said. 
“Let me be very clear with you, I knew the anger and I knew that compulsory hijab is not just a small piece of cloth. I knew that finally women will take to streets and say no to a bunch of mullahs telling them what to wear in the 21st century.”
Alinejad said the brutal death of Amini touched many Iranians because they were able to relate to her story. 
“She was an innocent girl, she was not part of any demonstration, she was not even unveiled, that created a huge anger because a lot of people relate to her story.”
In the interview, Alinejad also responded to accusations that she incited women of Iran to protest while she lives abroad in the west. 
She said that it was her role to give a voice to the women who were “the leaders of change within the society.” She added it would be “a betrayal” if she did not voice her support to them.