On September 13, 2022, the so-called morality police near Tehran’s Shahid Haqqani metro station stopped Mahsa Amini, a twenty-two-year-old visitor, for allegedly wearing an “improper hijab.” Officers put her in a van and, while driving to the police station, reportedly beat her as she begged to be released. She died three days later.

As the story of her murder, along with a picture of Amini on her deathbed, spread on social media, what felt like decades of pent-up rage began to surface. The first protests happened in front of Kasra Hospital, where Amini had died. Thousands…