Wednesday, 9 November, 2022 , 15:30
Jina Mahsa AMINI
Painting by Nasser Ghazizadeh
Painting by Nasser Ghazizadeh
Painting by Nasser Ghazizadeh
Painting by Nasser Ghazizadeh
On the 40th day of Jina Mahsa AMINI's death in police custody, thousands of people attended a tribute ceremony in her hometown of Saqqez marking the end of the traditional mourning period.
Despite the ban on all demonstrations and serious threats against the family and relatives of the young Kurdish martyr, thousands of people defied the Iranian forces of repression. The road linking the central square of this ancient city of Kurdistan of about 100,000 inhabitants to the cemetery, 8 klm long, was full of people. The massive use of tear gas and firing by the Revolutionary Guards, which had been crisscrossing the entire city since the day before, could not deter the demonstrators from shouting the Kurdish feminist slogan now spread throughout Iran "Jin, Jiyan, Azadi" (Woman, Life, Freedom) and the slogans of rejection of the Islamic Republic and its "Guide" Ayatollah Khamenei.
On the same day, other demonstrations took place in many Iranian cities, including Tehran and Mashhad, which have large Kurdish communities, as well as in Ahvaz, the capital of Khuzestan, Iran's Arab-majority province.
The 40-day protests across Iran following the death of Jina Mahsa AMINI challenge the legitimacy of the dictatorial Islamic regime, denounce the iniquitous fate of women and demand a future of freedom and democracy for the people of Iran.
The brutal repression of these demonstrations has so far caused at least 141 deaths, including thirty children, according to the NGO Iran Human Rights. To this is added a hundred dead in the province of Beluchistan, close to the Afghan border. Several hundred people were injured and more than 12,000 arrested.
Repression is particularly fierce in Kurdistan. In several cities, including Mahabad, Saqqez and Sanandaj, there are numerous reports of abductions and rapes of schoolgirls by Basij militiamen of the regime. Access to the region is closed to the media and internet connections are cut.
Solidarity demonstrations are taking place in the main capitals of the world. That of Berlin, on October 23, brought together more than 50,000 people, a large majority of Kurds and Iranians coming from several European countries.
In Paris, of which Jina Mahsa AMINI became an honorary citizen posthumously, among other solidarity actions, a collective exhibition of artists will take place from Thursday 3 to Monday 14 November 2022 at the International Art Gallery, at the Village Suisse, 78 avenue de Suffren, 75015 Paris.
