The Clerical Regime, Patriarchy and The Ongoing Uprising in Iran

What is it about the structure of the theocracy that can make murder a woman’s last resort in a violent marriage? In ‘An Eye for an Eye’, we follow Tahereh, who is trapped in a system where religious law, patriarchal norms and state institutions intertwine and determine her fate. The film paints an intimate portrait of a legal system where mercy, guilt and punishment are not just legal issues, but deeply political ones.

 

Based on the documentary, CPH:DOX invites you to a conversation about women’s opportunities in Iranian society today. What does it mean to seek justice in a system that simultaneously restricts one’s freedom? Where do we stand in the wake of the murder of young Kurdish woman Jina Mahsa Amini and the movement that arose in 2022 under the slogan Woman, Life, Freedom (originally in Kurdish: Jin, Jîyan, Azadî)? What has changed and what has not?

 

At a time when new, gruesome images of demonstrations are once again pouring out of Iran, the question arises with renewed force: What are Iranians and Kurds fighting for in the streets in 2026, and what risks does it entail?

 

These questions are explored by Ramus Elling, PhD in Iranian Studies, together with activists Jino Doabi and Maria Kafaei Zandeh Del in a joint conversation about resistance, hope and the possibilities for change.