Besê Şemerî: Women in Iran shatter fear in Women, Life, Freedom” Uprising

On 13 September 2022, 22-year-old Kurdish woman Jina Amini was tortured by Iran’s “morality police” and died three days later. Her funeral in Saqqez drew thousands, where the slogan “Women, Life, Freedom” ignited a historic uprising that reverberated worldwide and became a symbol of women’s resistance.

Today, women in Eastern Kurdistan, Iran, and beyond continue this struggle—in prisons, in the streets, and across the diaspora.

Speaking to ANHA Agency, Besê Şemerî described the causes and outcomes of the uprising, emphasizing that “Women, Life, Freedom” is a unique revolt against patriarchal oppression and inequality that has had global repercussions. She noted: “This uprising is not new; women in Iran have been leading revolts for over a century—long before the Islamic Revolution.”

She recalled the killing of Shiler Rasouli on 8 September 2022, calling her and others “victims of the injustice of both regime and society.” The epitaph on Shiler’s grave in Mariwan read: “Women are not safe, neither at home nor in the street.”

Şemerî explained that the cumulative injustice faced by women erupted with Jina Amini’s death. The chants and cries of the movement, she stressed, were not only for Jina and Shiler but for all victims of the regime.

She highlighted the deep causes of the uprising:

Since the establishment of the Islamic Republic, the regime has relied on killings, executions, and systematic violence, leaving 75% of society in despair.

Political genocide and mass repression since the 1980s further entrenched this hopelessness.

Despite waves of earlier protests, the state responded only with massacres and violence.

The killing of Jina Amini triggered an explosion of anger, reviving a revolutionary spirit long suppressed—this time led by women under a slogan of profound meaning that captured worldwide attention.

Besê Şemerî stressed:“In my view, the world has not witnessed in recent history a revolution like ‘Women, Life, Freedom.’ It has had a powerful global impact, as Kurdish women led resistance not only against oppression and tyranny but also against the global capitalist system.”

She underlined that women removing their enforced veils shattered a decades-long barrier:“For over thirty years, the hijab was imposed on women as a shroud. With this uprising, women broke both the decrees of the Islamic regime and the barrier of fear, taking to the streets unveiled for the first time.”

 Şemerî stated that the struggles of Jina, Shler, and thousands of women inspire hope, with aspirations that this movement will reach all corners of the world. She emphasized that these mothers did not express their pain through tears at home; rather, their anger drove them to take to the streets and lead the uprising.

Shler Rasouli: On 3 September 2022, Shler Rasouli, from the city of Mariwan in Eastern Kurdistan, was assaulted by an individual identified as J.Q., a member of the Iranian intelligence apparatus. Following the attack, Shler sustained severe injuries and, in an attempt to escape her assailant, jumped from a window of her home. She succumbed to her injuries on 8 September 2022, sparking widespread outrage among women and communities in Eastern Kurdistan.

Who is Besê Şemerî?

Besê Şemerî is a researcher specializing in Middle Eastern social and political affairs, and an advocate for the rights of detainees and victims of massacres in the 1960s (1360 AH). Born in the city of Sanandaj in Eastern Kurdistan, she began her political activism at the onset of the Malli regime in Iran (1979).

In the early 1990s, she was forced to emigrate to Sweden, where she engaged in efforts to protect the rights of migrant children and women. Since 2020, she has served as the Executive Director of the Iranian People’s Court. She previously collaborated with the Iranian Democratic Platform from 2017 to 2021 and is one of the founders of the International Democratic Women’s Platform.

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