Robina Aminian was passionate about fashion, posting images of herself on Instagram wearing the dresses she hand-embroidered.
She was also passionate about politics. On Jan. 8 the fashion student finished her class at Tehran’s women-only Shariati College at around 7 p.m. and joined a group of antigovernment protesters not far from campus.
Iranians had been demonstrating for over a week, but Aminian knew that day was going to be different. The protests had been growing in size and expanding to more cities, with calls for regime change becoming louder. President Trump had threatened to intervene if security forces started shooting. Adding to the growing momentum, Reza Pahlavi, the exiled son of the deposed shah, had urged Iranians to pour onto the streets at 8 p.m., the start of the Iranian weekend.
