On its 2nd anniversary…most important stations of" Jin, Jiyan, Azadî" uprising

The "Jin, Jiyan, Azadî" uprising, which means "Woman, Life, Freedom" in Arabic, enters its third year, leaving behind two years of resistance and struggle against various forms of oppression and torture under the patriarchal regime prevailing in Iran. 

The uprising began in Eastern Kurdistan and Iran after the killing of the young Kurdish woman, Jina Amini (22 years old), on September 16, 2022, by the so-called "morality police" for allegedly not wearing the hijab imposed by the Iranian authorities on women.

Jina was arrested on the 13th of the same month, while she was heading with her family from the city of Saqqez in Eastern Kurdistan to Tehran to visit her relatives, when a "morality police" patrol attacked her and took her to the Vozara detention center in Tehran. During her detention, Jina was subjected to torture and severe beatings, as a result of which she fell into a coma for 3 days, and then lost her life.

As the news of Jina Amini's death spread, the people of Saqez initially rose up against the Iranian authorities, and thousands of people gathered to bury Jina, chanting the slogan "Jin, Jiyan, Azadî" during the funeral ceremony.

The spark of the uprising then spread to 138 towns and cities in eastern Kurdistan and Iran. The participants demanded the overthrow of the regime and the establishment of democracy.

A qualitative shift in Iran's history

Jina's murder was the spark for this uprising, which quickly turned into a global women's uprising whose slogan "Jin, Jiyan, Azadî", proposed by Leader Abdullah Ocalan in the late 1980s, echoed throughout the world, and brought about a rallying of societies against the oppressive policies of male regimes.

This uprising represented a qualitative shift in Iran's history, as it was the first time that all segments of society gathered to demand a change in the ruling mentality hostile to women, and it quickly spread throughout the world with great momentum and participation.

In the North and East of Syria region in particular, many different activities were held led by women. In parliaments, female representatives chanted the slogan "Jin, Jiyan, Azadî" and women's conferences were held to support the uprising, and women expressed their support for the uprising by burning headscarves and cutting their hair.

Systematic repression

The participants used different forms and methods to express their protest against the Iranian regime, such as women cutting their hair and headscarves, closing shops, writing on walls, sit-ins, activities in schools and universities, and collecting signatures.

As the uprising spread, the Iranian authorities intensified their pressure and attacked the protesters with weapons, sticks, gas, and violent methods. They also resorted to poisoning female students participating in this uprising, as many cases of poisoning and suffocation were recorded in many Iranian schools.

At the same time, the homes and workplaces of the protesters were attacked. Their families were also pressured by the authorities, who sought to suppress this uprising by arresting, torturing, detaining, threatening, and even sentencing protesters to death.

No accurate statistics

As for the statistics, the Iranian authorities have been hiding the true statistics of the numbers of those arrested, killed and injured during the uprising, in addition to the death penalty toll, which is increasing alarmingly year after year.

The Iranian authorities have doubled their use of the death penalty, with 2023 witnessing the highest number of executions in eight years, with the authorities resorting to using the death penalty as a tool of repression to terrorize the public.

Amnesty International said in a report that the number of executions in 2023 is the highest recorded since 2015, representing a 48 percent increase over 2022, with 853 cases.

The wave of killings in Iran continues in 2024, with UN experts recording that the Iranian authorities have carried out more than 400 death sentences since the beginning of the year, including 15 women.

Protesters in the crosshairs of arrest

In order to prevent the spread of the uprising, the Iranian state cut off the internet in the region, and arrested and detained many journalists. After journalists Niloufar Hamedi and Elahi Mohammadi published the news of Jina Amini’s death, they were arrested. They also arrested actors Taraneh Alidoosti, Taha Rasoulian, and Mohammad Sadeghi, who supported the uprising.

According to human rights organizations, as the second anniversary of Jina Amini’s death approaches, Iranian security forces have increased pressure and repression by launching a new wave of arrests of family members demanding justice and civil political activists.

In a new wave of arrests in Eastern Kurdistan, Iranian authorities began arresting at least 20 people in the cities of Mahabad, Piranshahr, Oshnavieh, and Dehgolan on August 31, according to the Iran International website

Women’s continued resistance

Despite all of the above, women in Eastern Kurdistan and Iran continue to resist all forms of escalating repression against them, including the use of the death penalty against women on politically motivated charges.

Most recently, human rights defender Sharifeh Mohammadi and Kurdish civil society activist and journalist Bakhshan Azizi were convicted in July of “armed rebellion against the state” and sentenced to death by revolutionary courts in separate cases, solely for their peaceful activism. There are disturbing reports that they have been subjected to torture and other ill-treatment in custody, according to Amnesty International.

In contrast, security forces and the Revolutionary Guards have killed at least 700 people during the ongoing uprising, according to the Iranian People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK), which has confirmed the identities of 580 people so far in a report published on September 11.

The organization noted that Iranian authorities have arrested about 30,000 women and men, most of them under the age of 25, during the uprising and imprisoned them in overcrowded prisons under inhumane conditions, and continue to be tortured to force them to confess.

"jin, jiyan, azadî" in India

The slogan 'jin, jiyan, azadî' has become a common refrain in women's uprisings around the world, becoming a symbol that unites women against all forms of injustice and oppression. This uprising has swept through hundreds of cities and countries, providing a driving force for women's demands around the world. This was evident in the protests in India that erupted on August 9, following the murder of a 31-year-old female doctor after being sexually assaulted. Her body was found with multiple wounds in a public hospital in the eastern Indian city of Kolkata.

T/ Satt.

ANHA