Iranian women leaders in New Zealand have met with Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern in the Beehive to express concerns about the violence in their homeland and urge stronger action from the Government, including expelling the Iranian Ambassador.

Also present were Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta and Iranian-born Green MP Golriz Ghahraman, who both facilitated the meeting after previously working together on moving a motion through Parliament.

Ghahraman said the meeting was aimed at bringing the “lived experience and expertise of Iranian community members leading protest action here in Aotearoa”.

They spoke about the “atrocities” they’d experienced, along with what other nations had done to hold Iranian security and political leaders to account.

These actions included freezing assets and funding, travel bans and designating the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, also known as the “morality police”, as a terror entity.

“We also discussed the issues around expelling the Ambassador [Mohammad Reza Mofatteh], which community members said was needed to limit the threat posed by the Islamic regime against Iranian New Zealanders organising protest here.”

NZ Iranian women leaders meeting Green MP Golriz Ghahraman (left), Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta and Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern in the Beehive. Photo / Supplied

Ghahraman said Ardern had engaged “meaningfully” on all the points raised. She’d be meeting again with Mahuta shortly to discuss the “next steps”.

Iran has been shaken by protests since September.

They were sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish woman who died shortly after being detained by morality police for allegedly wearing her hijab incorrectly. Her death sparked protests from women frustrated by Iran’s theocratic government’s repressive rules about dress, and the regime’s rigid enforcement of these rules.

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The protests have been met with a wave of violence from the regime. That violence intensified recently, with shots fired into the crowd at a ceremony marking 40 days of mourning for her death.

At least 300 protesters have been killed and thousands arrested since the unrest began, according to the group Human Rights Activists in Iran.

NZ Iranian community protest organiser Hanna Habibi during their rally at Parliament, Wellington. Photo / Mark Mitchell

New Zealand has been criticised for taking a soft touch to joining the international condemnation of Amini’s death and the protests that followed.

It is believed the Government held its tongue at least in part because it was negotiating the release of two wealthy travel influencers, Bridget Thackwray and Topher Richwhite, who had been touring Iran and posting about it to their Instagram account.

Protests have also been occurring in New Zealand, both against the Iranian regime and calling for the Government here to take stronger action.

About 50 people gathered outside the embassy in Hataitai near the end of October, before travelling to Parliament.

Protest organiser Hanna Habibi, who was present at today’s meeting, said at the time they wanted New Zealand to take its response further and follow the actions of other countries, including designating the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps a terrorist entity and applying targeted sanctions. They also called on the Government to expel the Iranian Ambassador.

NZ Iranian women leaders meeting from left Green MP Golriz Ghahraman, Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta and Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern in the Beehive. Photo / Supplied

The protest came shortly after Parliament passed a motion in the House on the treatment of women in Iran and the protests.

“I move that this House note the bravery of women and the people of Iran exercising their right to protest for women’s rights and democracy,” Mahuta said at the time.

The motion also called for a “thorough, independent, and prompt investigation” into the recent deaths of people in the custody of Iranian authorities, including the morality police, and condemned the human rights breaches and use of violence.

Just over a week ago Mahuta and Ardern announced the Government has suspended its human rights dialogue with Iran following the regime’s crackdown on protests.

New Zealand started the Human Rights Dialogue with Iran in 2018 in the hope of “advancing human rights issues and concerns”.

Ardern said Iran was “moving backwards” on human rights, with hundreds dying and thousands injured.