And there are more than 154 victims since the beginning of the protests for the murder of the young woman of Kurdish origin. The repression is concentrated in the northwest (Kurdish area) and in the southeast of the country, against the Baluchis. Other young women, killed by the police, have become symbols of the uprising for rights and freedom. Iran is preparing to attack the resistance across the border in Iraq.
Tehran () – The repression of the protests – spontaneous, in the front row women, even very young – for the death of the young Iranian Mahsa Amini, 22, at the hands of the morality police, has become an opportunity to punish minorities in the country. In the first place, to the Kurds, an ethnic group to which the young woman killed at the hands of a patrol at the exit of the subway in Tehran belonged, for not wearing the hijab, the Islamic veil (today a symbol of the repression of the ayatollahs) . And secondly, to the Baloch Sunnis of the southeast, on the border with Pakistan and Afghanistan.
According to the NGO Iran Human Rights (Ihrngo) there have already been at least 154 victims since the protests began. However, the figure may already be higher and may rise in the near future as the Tehran government threatens and cracks down on the demonstrations, backed by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. In the massacre nicknamed “Bloody Friday” that took place on September 30 in Zahedan, the death toll rose to 63. In this last case, the rape of a 15-year-old girl at the hands of a police officer fueled the protest , which broke out at the end of Friday prayers.
Among the dead are nine minors, whose precise age is unknown. For the director of Ihrngo, Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, “in many cases, especially in Zahedan, true crimes against humanity have been committed.” Since the protest riots began, victims have been registered in 17 provinces, especially in Sistan-Baluchistan (63), in Mazandaran (27), in Gilan (12) and in western Azerbaijan (11). The dead are concentrated in the northwest, an area where a large part of the Kurdish minority lives, and in the southeast, in the provinces bordering Pakistan. Furthermore, Mahsa Amini herself was of Kurdish origin, a community of 8.1 million people – out of a total population of 83 million – settled mainly in Saqqez, Urmia, Diwandara, Kermashan, Dehgolan, Ilam and Piranshahr.
It was precisely in Saqqez, the hometown of the 22-year-old, where the first uprisings began after her burial, on September 16. The protests spread throughout the country and the universities joined them. The other hot spot, and where the number of victims is growing, are the southern provinces: there is a predominance of a population that professes Sunni Islam, a minority current in the Shiite Islamic Republic and the object of repression in the past. Tehran’s fear is that the pro-Mahsa demonstrations will turn into a broader rebellion by the Baluchis, who have been fighting and guerilla fighting against Iranian security forces for nearly 20 years.
Meanwhile, despite the ayatollahs trying to censor and block the Internet, images of young university students protesting by removing their veils and making fun of the photos of President Ebrahim Raisi and Supreme Guide Khamenei hanging on the walls of the classrooms are resurfacing on social networks. . The uprising began as a demonstration to stand in solidarity with the 22-year-old Kurdish woman and for emancipation against an oppressive society symbolized by the hijab. And now he sees more and more women – young and not so young – in the front row, leading the revolt and falling under the gunfire of the regime.
In recent weeks, other women have joined Mahsa and died at the hands of the violent crackdown on the struggle for freedom and rights. Minoo Majidi, 62, was shot dead by security forces on September 20 in the Kurdish city of Kermanshah. Ghazaleh Chelavi, 32, an expert climber, was killed on the same day in Amol, on the shores of the Caspian Sea. Hannaneh Kia, 23, was deliberately killed in Nowshahr, as she was returning to her home after a medical examination. And also, Hadis Najafi, 22, one of the most illustrious victims of recent weeks, who became famous for her latest video on social networks: she said that she joined the protest with enthusiasm, only to be later killed by the police. policeman. Finally, Nika Shakarami, 16, a young woman whose passion was music, was killed in Khorramabad, in the west of the country, after participating in the protests. The authorities buried her in a hurry, hidden from her family. The body showed clear signs of torture.
Finally, confirming what was reported by and the denunciations of a priest from Iraqi Kurdistan, Tehran’s attacks across the border continue and are becoming more intense. There are already dozens of victims. According to sources consulted by Voice of America (VOA), the Islamic Republic has recently reinforced its military presence along the western border. It is currently preparing to launch operations on Iraqi territory against the bases of the Iranian resistance that opposes the ayatollahs. Another target of the attacks are the refugee camps where Iranian Kurds have been living for some time. Pro-democracy activists and Iranian politicians of Kurdish origin would also be in the crosshairs, and would be targets that the Tehran authorities intend to “eliminate”. “There have been threats against Kurdish party officials for a long time,” said Atta Saqzi, a spokesperson for the Revolutionary Association of Workers of Iranian Kurdistan. But since the death of Mahsa Amini and after the start of the Kurdish demonstrations in the east [Kurdistán iraní]Tehran “has openly threatened to take revenge on the Kurdish parties.”
