Iran's Protests: The 'Death Stick' Rekindled as Symbol of Female Autonomy

In the smoke and fury of Iran’s protests, images of young women lighting their cigarettes from burning photographs of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei have circulated widely on social media. Hailed globally as a “creative protest,” the act is seen in continuum of the “Woman, Life, Freedom” movement that surged after Mahsa (Jina) Amini’s death in 2022 after the morality police arrested her for wearing her hijab “improperly.” Yet this form of defiance is not new. It is the latest flare in a long, uneasy history where the “death stick” has repeatedly been weaponised as a symbol of female autonomy.