Women's Media Union, Free Media Union condemn sentences against journalists

The unions issued a joint statement in the Reading Garden in Qamishlo, addressing the death sentence imposed on journalist and activist Bakhshan Azizi and activist Sherifa Mohammadi in Iran, as well as the three-year prison sentence given to journalist Suleiman Ahmed by the Kurdistan Democratic Party.

 During the statement, delivered by Newroz Damhat, a member of the Women's Media Union's administrative body, journalists and female journalists from the North and East Syria region displayed pictures of journalist Suleiman Ahmed and journalist and activist Bakhshan Azizi.

 Newroz Damhat condemned the policies of the Iranian regime and the Kurdistan Democratic Party towards journalists, stating: the Iranian dictatorial and occupying regime seeks to terrorize women, free people, opposition parties, and figures. Through these policies, it aims to silence popular and women's demands for freedom with death sentences. The Iranian regime, based on religious extremism, sectarianism, and masculinity, not only harms the existence and freedom of women through its executions, pressure, and various repressions, violating human rights, but also undermines the values of all components, nationalities, and beliefs. The Iranian regime encroaches on all aspects of life through women's identity, and seeks to eliminate the hope of a free life and build a society deprived of will and surrendered to death through its executions.

 Newroz Damhat explained that despite women and the general public facing execution at every moment, an unparalleled resistance against policies of tyranny and occupation has been waged during the last century, led by women. She continued: Based on the fact that society and people will not be liberated unless women are liberated, they made women’s braids a symbol of their resistance and demanded freedom under the slogan 'Woman, Life, Freedom.' The spirit of resistance embodied in the 'Woman, Life, Freedom' uprising resonated throughout the world and became the greatest obsession of the male-dominated, sexist, and religiously fanatic Iranian regime. Because of this fear of annihilation, the Iranian regime sentences female activists of the ('Woman, Life, Freedom') uprising to death.

 Newroz referred to the death penalty issued against the two female journalists and activists, Bakhshan Azizi and Sharifah Mohammadi, and the prison sentence against journalist Suleiman Ahmed. She continued: As colleagues, we strongly condemn this decision of the Iranian regime and support the right of every individual to freedom. We believe that everyone has the right to demand freedom. As we are accustomed to in the free media, we are struggling to put an end to the treason that has become like a worm eating away at the great tree of Kurdistan, and we are working to expose it. We are being targeted by the Kurdistan Democratic Party, which follows the approach of treason and collaboration, and because this treasonous mentality fears the national position of the free media, our colleague, the journalist Suleiman Ahmed, was arrested and recently sentenced to prison. We will continue to talk about the pressures that the Kurdistan Democratic Party has exerted on our colleague, and we draw the attention of the international community to the brutal practices committed by the Iranian regime and the pressures that the Kurdistan Democratic Party is exerting against journalists.

 Newroz Damhat pointed out that the betrayal of the Kurdistan Democratic Party to the Kurdish and international public opinion should be exposed through more active and influential media coverage. She explained that they would represent the voices of Bakhshan, Sharifa, and Suleiman Ahmed with their lenses and pens.

 Newroz Damhat called on the Iranian regime to reverse this decision and urged the international community, women's organizations, and human rights organizations to support the demand for women's freedom and those seeking freedom. She concluded by saying, we call on the global democratic, free, and opposition media in particular to convey the voice of these detainees in the cause of freedom and who face execution.

 The journalists concluded their statement with the slogan Women, Life, Freedom.

T/ Satt.

ANHA