Two years after Irani’s death Mahsa Amini, which triggered massive mobilizations with the central slogan “Women, Life, Freedom”, 34 Iranian female prisoners began a hunger strike. This was announced by Iranian arrested Nobel laureate Nargis Mohammadi.
Amini, 22, was killed while in the custody of moral police on September 16, 2022, after she was arrested for allegedly not wearing her headscarf properly. Her death sparked protests across Iran and gave rise to the “Women, Life, Freedom” movement that rocked the country for months.
Mohammadi, a 2023 Nobel Peace Prize laureate who has been detained since November 2021, announced in a post on X that “once again, women in prison detained for political and ideological reasons in Evin (ns prison – a prison near Tehran) have started a hunger strike in solidarity with the people protesting in Iran against the oppressive policies of the government.
Thirty-four female prisoners went on hunger strike in an Iranian jail on Sunday to mark two years since protests against clerical authorities erupted, Nobel Peace Prize winner Narges Mohammadi’s foundation said.https://t.co/6QaHcXmxKQ
—Narges Mohammadi | نرگس محمدی (@nargesfnd) September 15, 2024
“We raise our voices louder”
“Today, September 15, 2024, 34 women political prisoners have started a hunger strike to commemorate the second anniversary of the Women, Life, Freedom movement and the assassination of Mahsa (Zina) Amini,” Mohammadi said on an X account she runs for her family.
“We reaffirm our commitment to the establishment of democracy, freedom and equality and the defeat of theocratic despotism. Today, we raise our voices louder and strengthen our resolve,” he added.
The demonstrations over Amini’s death, the protests against the mandatory wearing of headscarves and against religious conservatism shocked the Iranian regime. The regime’s response was to methodically repress and crush the protests and the movement: at least 551 people were killed and thousands more were arrested, according to human rights non-governmental organizations.
Ten men were also executed in cases linked to the Women, Life, Freedom movement, the last of whom, Golamreza Rasai, 34, was hanged in August, days after the inauguration of the new president, Massoud Pezeskian.
Human rights organizations also denounce the increase in executions for all types of crimes, in order to sow fear and prevent voices opposing any trend of protests and demonstrations against the regime.
Nargis Mohammadi, 52, who won the 2023 Nobel Prize specifically for her fight against the death penalty, has been in prison since November 2021 and has spent much of the last decade in custody.
The Iranian activist was sentenced in June to a new one-year prison term for “propaganda against the state”, adding to a long list of other charges, for which she was sentenced to twelve years and three months in prison, 154 lashes, two years of exile and various social and criminal penalties.
Sources: AMPE, AFP
