WAN - ICAVI Founder Rouhi Shafii pointed out that women's struggles are targeted with death sentences in Iran and said: “People forget what happened quickly. When we raise our voices, they support us, but when our struggle is silenced, they remain silent.”  

 

According to the Human Rights Organizations in Iran July report on human rights violations, 55 prisoners were executed in one month. Most of the executions were carried out on the grounds of the “Jin, jiyan, azadi (Woman, life, freedom)” resistance that started after Jîna Emînî was murdered for not obeying the headscarf rules. According to the report, most executions were carried out in prisons in South Khorasan and Reza Khorasan provinces in July. Women's rights defenders Pexshan Ezîzî and Şerife Muhammedî were also recently sentenced to death. 

 

Rouhi Shafii, founder of the International Coalition Against Post-Migration Violence (ICAVI) and member of the Stop Honor Killing Campaign, evaluated the death sentences given to prisoners. 

 

WOMEN TARGETED 

 

Stating that the Iranian regime wants to unify society, Shafii underlined that it carries out this policy especially through women. “Iranian women were the first women in the Middle East to have the freedom to dress, the opportunity to study at university, the right to vote in elections and the freedom to get the job they want. But Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and his supporters could not tolerate this and, just like the Taliban, women were their first target. This long-standing struggle of educated Iranian women who know what they want against Khamenei and his supporters started long before the 'Jin, jiyan, azadî' movement that emerged after the murder of Jîna Amînî” she said.

 

'WHAT HAPPENED IS QUICKLY FORGOTTEN'

 

Stating that “Jin, jiyan, azadi” is the continuation of the women's struggle against years of oppression and violence, Shafii said that everyone should support the women's struggle in Iran. Shafii said: “They are trying to scare women with detention and death. But this will not work. Unfortunately, people all over the world have a short memory and forget things very quickly. When we raise our voices, they support us, but when our struggle is silenced, they remain silent.”

 

'WOMEN ARE FIGHTING AGAINST THE REGIME'

 

Saying that the Iranian regime is a “puppet regime”, Shafii emphasized that the women struggling for freedom in Iran will lead the women of the world to freedom. “The brave Iranian women have never stopped fighting against the religious regime occupying our country. Now women are preparing to regroup inside and outside and fulfill their demands. They have already won the right not to wear the mandatory headscarf and are walking freely on the streets of major cities despite all kinds of threats, fines and imprisonment. I assure you that Iranian women will be the vanguard of the freedom of all women in the Middle East” Shafii said.