Businesses shut down all across the Kurdish region of Iran Sept. 16 on the fourth anniversary of the death of Zhina Amini. The 22-year-old Kurdish woman died at the hands of the hated “morality” police after her arrest in Tehran in 2022 for alleged violations of the reactionary dress code. Above from left, in the hospital before she died and in a family photo. The regime’s thugs killed hundreds of protesters during the widespread actions across the country under the banner of “Woman, life, freedom” following her death.
The strike was called by a coalition of five Iranian Kurdish parties that are fighting for the rights of the Kurds, one of Iran’s oppressed nationalities.
In Saqqez, the government blocked all entrances to the cemetery where Amini is buried to prevent people from gathering in protest at her graveside.
The government flooded some Kurdish cities with police, riot-control units and soldiers. On the eve of the strike, one woman in the region posted a video, where their firing of weapons nonstop — apparently into the air — could be heard. “I am sending this,” she wrote, “so you can understand exactly what’s happening here, how terrified the authorities are of the people and how hard they’re trying to silence the people’s voices and prevent another popular uprising. They’re especially afraid of the Kurds.”
Amjad Amini, Zhina’s father, sent a message to the people of Iran and around the world, thanking them for their solidarity. “We saw how today all of Kurdistan,” he said, “proved that the path to the hearts of the people cannot be blocked.”
“The struggle for freedom, equality, justice and a dignified life for all — especially workers, laborers and oppressed people throughout the country — will not stop until freedom and justice are achieved,” the Tehran and Suburbs Bus Company Workers Union said in a statement Sept. 15.