WAN – Stating that the Iranian regime wants to suppress the women’s struggle and intimidate the society with death sentences, Çîmen Ciwanrudî said, “The execution threat is a clear indication of the regime’s fear of the unity created by women among the peoples.”

 

In Iran, a new one is added to the regime’s oppressive policies towards women every day. Evin Prison in Tehran, the capital of Iran, is known as one of the prisons where women who resisted the regime were imprioned and faced execution. 

 

International Human Rights Organisations announced that there are about 70 women political prisoners in Evin Prison and some of them are facing execution. Dozens of women in Evin Prison are being held under heavy pressure due to their political identities and struggles. Kurdish politicians Pexşan Ezizî, Werîşe Muradî, Şerife Muhammedî are among these women. 

 

Çîmen Ciwanrudî, a political activist in Iran and a member of the Central Committee of the Association of People in Difficult Situations, stated that the regime wants to intimidate the society with death threats against women and said that the regime is afraid of the growing power of women.

 

Çîmen Ciwanrudî said that the suppression of women in Iran has a long and deep-rooted history, but the oppression of women, especially those who are active in the social, political and cultural spheres, has turned into a more systematic form of violence today. Çîmen Ciwanrudî said that women are now threatened not only with imprisonment and torture, but also with execution in order to send a message to the society. She emphasised that this threat against women is not only individual, but also aims to intimidate women's leading role in the social and political spheres.

 

WOMEN AND KURD IDENTITY 

 

 

Pointing out that all 4 women threatened with execution are Kurdish activists, Çîmen Ciwanrudî emphasised that the Iranian regime has combined two main lines of suppression throughout history. Çîmen Ciwanrudî said that this approach is an exclusionary policy against minorities. 

 

She said: "The fact that Kurdish women activists are being targeted today clearly demonstrates that a systematic policy of oppression and intimidation is being carried out on the basis of their gender and ethnic identity." 

 

Çîmen Ciwanrudî stated that in the past, the regime tried to control women mostly through "legal" restrictions, and that the compulsory headscarf or bans on certain professions were examples of this policy. However, she stated that the increasing leadership of women in social movements, especially after the murder of Jîna Emînî, pushed the regime to harsher methods. 

 

"The regime is now resorting to naked violence. The threat of execution against women shows that soft mechanisms have completely collapsed and have been replaced by dramatic, political forms of punishment," she added. 

 

Stating that women were not only participants but also pioneers in the "Jin, Jiyan, Azadî (Woman, life, freedom)" resistance, Çîmen Ciwanrudi said that names like Pexşen Ezizî and Werîşe Muradî symbolise this leadership. Çîmen Ciwanrudi said that after the "Jin, jiyan, azadî" resistance, the pressure against pioneering women increased. "These threats are also a clear indication of the regime's fear of the power that women have gained in the social and political sphere and the unity they have created among the peoples," Çîmen Ciwanrudî said. 

 

EMPHASIS ON UNITED STRUGGLE

 

Çîmen Ciwanrudî stated that solidarity today is mostly symbolic and through the media, but that there is no complete organisational unity between the women of Kurdistan and the women's movements in other parts of Iran. Despite this, she emphasised that women such as Pexşan, Werîşe, Şerife and Nergîs represent a radical resistance feminism and reminded that despite the severe oppression of women in prisons, forms of solidarity have developed at different levels. 

 

She said that publicising the names of imprisoned women, documenting violations in prisons, virtual media campaigns and applications to international organisations are important in this respect. She also emphasised the need to provide legal and psychological support to families, to protect lawyers and to develop joint campaigns with women's movements around the world.

 

MA / Zeynep Durgut