Thread by @AlinejadMasih

1-Please don't miss a single video of Yasaman Aryani in this thread, an inspirational heroic woman of Iran.

See how many anti-women laws she broke for freedom

Civil disobedience is in her DNA. She’s in jail. Before being jailed, she'd asked me to be her voice #WhiteWednesdays

2- When I first launched My Stealthy Freedom campaign against forced hijab in 2014, she sent me a video of herself walking unveiled in one of the busiest areas of Tehran. She made a sacrifice to urge more women to join the campaign for their rights

3- She risked a lot as being unveiled is a punishable crime in the Islamic Republic. Later, she sent another video of herself riding a bicycle without her compulsory hijab. She was committing 2 crimes -- being unveiled & riding a bike as a woman

4-In a fourth video to me, she filmed herself dancing unveiled in public with a beautiful smile on her face. This was another challenge to the regime, because dancing is also forbidden in the Islamic Republic of Iran.

5-When she got arrested for the “crime” of protesting against the regime, she sent me a 5th video from the back of a police van with 8 other youths. Desperately she said, “Masih! Please be my voice if they send me to jail”. She went to jail for 1 year

6-After being released from prison, Yasaman, her mother & friends went on Tehran's metro unveiled on #InternationalWomensDay in 2019 and handed out flowers to women & called for solidarity between veiled & unveiled women. Yasaman wasn’t giving up.

7-Today, both Yasaman & her mum are in jail, sentenced to 16 years. For this year’s International Women’s Day, Yasaman & her mum, Monireh, smuggled an audio message from inside jail, despite restrictions, full of hope, determination & commitment to fighting for freedom in Iran.

8-With every video she sent, I offered to blur her face so she wouldn't be recognized. To which she responded: “All my life, the regime has tried its best to hide my identity and make me invisible just because I’m a woman. On your platform, I get my visibility back.”

9- Yasaman and her mother are both in jail. Despite psychological torture, and solitary confinement, Yasaman and her mum refuse to denounce her activism & #WhiteWednesdays campaign.