Vida Mohaved

In a dramatic gesture of public protest, 32-year-old Mohaved stood on top of a utility box in Tehran in 2017, took off her hijab and waved it like a flag at the end of a stick. This sparked a viral video that she relied on her audience to disseminate. Instead of posting a dissident video and putting it on social media, she made herself the content for her allies to capture. She became known as “the girl of Enghelab (Revolution) Street.”  Mohaved was sentenced to one year in jail for her act of defiance and subsequently pardoned by the Supreme Leader. Her gesture helped to spur the Girls of Enghelab protests, which resist compulsory hijab for women.