We Will Remember Jina Mahsa Amani
15 September 2023
On 14 September 2022, a Kurdish woman named Jina Mahsa Amani was arrested by the so-called morality police at the exit of a subway station in Tehran, the capital of Iran, as violations of women’s rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran, which is governed by Sharia law, were becoming increasingly severe. The reason for her arrest was that she had not properly tied her headscarf. Mahsa Amani died of torture in detention on 16 September 2022. The Islamic Republic of Iran denied allegations of torture. Yet, forensic medicine reports revealed that Jina Mahsa Amani’s CT scan showed bleeding and cerebral edema due to a fractured skull, fluid accumulation in her lungs, and that she went into a coma after a severe blow to the head. Thus, it was revealed with medical documents that Jina Mahsa Amani lost her life by torture. After Jina Amani was tortured to death, demonstrations, especially in Kurdish cities in Iran, were violently suppressed by the police and many people lost their lives. Three female journalists who covered the killing of Jina Mahsa Amani were detained. Amani’s death actually became a cry for freedom at a time when the repression against dissidents in Iran was increasing. The fact that Mahsa Amani took a stand against the clothing style imposed on her and lost her life through torture in this way caused many people to raise their demands for freedom. In Iran, protests and demonstrations by women have been going on for a year in various forms. These protests, which started with the slogan “Jin Jiyan Azadi,” meaning woman, life, freedom, give hope to the whole world and all women’s organizations.
The Islamic Republic of Iran has not admitted that Jina Mahsa Amani was tortured to death, there has been no trial. Such great “impunity” granted to perpetrators is a familiar practice of the states in our geography, a method we have also witnessed.
On the anniversary of Jina Mahsa Amani’s death, as women human rights defenders, we once again express that we will never let go of the slogan JIN JIYAN AZADI that she started, that we will never forget those who tortured Jina Mahsa Amani to death, and that we will repeat our demands until the end of all patriarchal systems all over the world.
Human Rights Association
Central Women’s Commission