JINA MAHSA AMINI
The face of Iran's protests. Her life, her dreams and her death.
In memory of Jina 'Mahsa' Amini, the cornerstone of the 'Zan. Zendagi. Azadi revolution.
16 February 2023 | By Gino d'Artali
And also
Read all about the assasination of the 22 year young Jhina Mahsa Amini or Zhina Mahsa Amini (Kurdistan-Iran) and the start of the Zan, Zendagi, Azadi (Women, life, freedom) revolution in Iran  2022
and the latest news about the 'Women Live Freedom' Revolution per month in 2023:August 31 - 18 part 2 -- August 15 - 1-part1-- July 31 - 16 --July 15 -1--June 30 - 15--June 15-1--May 31 -16-- May 15-1--April--March--Feb--Jan  

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When one hurts or kills a women
one hurts or kills hummanity and is an antrocitie.
Gino d'Artali
and: My mother (1931-1997) always said to me <Mi figlio, non esistono notizie <vecchie> perche puoi imparare qualcosa da qualsiasi notizia.> Translated: <My son, there is no such thing as so called 'old' news because you can learn something from any news.>
Gianna d'Artali.

Iranwire - August 7, 2023
<<Iranian Feminist Activist Handed Prison Term for Anti-State <Propaganda>
Iranian authorities have sentenced a feminist activist, Zainab Zaman, to one year in prison for engaging in <propaganda activity> against the Islamic Republic, according to her brother. Branch 26 of the Islamic Revolution Court also banned Zaman from traveling, prohibited her from participating in the activities of political or social organizations and barred her from using a smartphone for a period of five years, her brother and lawyer Aboozar Zaman tweeted on August 7. Zainab Zaman was arrested on April 8 following her participation in the Woman, Life, Freedom protest movement and held in solitary confinement for several weeks. The activist has said she had been subjected to torture and sexual harassment during her detention. She is the daughter of well-known Iranian pop singer Hossein Zaman, who died in May. The artist was banned for years over his criticism of the Islamic Republic's policies.>>
Source:
https://iranwire.com/en/news/119256-iranian-feminist-activist-handed-prison-term-for-anti-state-propaganda/

Iranwire - August 7, 2023
<<Case Filed against Lawyer Who Denounced Clampdown on Dissent
Multiple Iranian security and intelligence institutions have filed a joint legal case against Mohsen Borhani, a prominent lawyer who harshly criticized the government's brutal crackdown on anti-establishment protesters. The case was initiated by the Judicial Information Protection Center, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Intelligence Organization, the Police Information Protection and a member of the Guardian Council, Borhani tweeted on August 6.
<How many against one?> the lawyer asked.
The move comes amid increased state pressure on independent lawyers who have been critical of state repression on dissent and those who have defended protesters arrested in the clampdown on demonstrations sparked by the September 2022 death in police custody of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini. Borhani has consistently voiced his concerns about the legality of the judicial processes against demonstrators and the sentences handed down to them. He has also criticized the government's crackdown on women opposing mandatory hijab. Amini's death triggered months of nationwide demonstrations that quickly escalated into calls for the overthrow of the Islamic Republic. The authorities cracked down hard on the women-led protest movement, killing hundreds of people and unlawfully detaining thousands, including dozens of lawyers.
Following biased trials, the judiciary has handed down stiff sentences, including the death penalty, to protesters.>>
Source:
https://iranwire.com/en/news/119255-case-filed-against-lawyer-who-denounced-clampdown-on-dissent/

Iranwire - August 7, 2023 - by SAMANEH GHADARKHAN
<<Underage Girls and Illicit Drug Distribution in Iran
In recent weeks, the Tehran Municipality has decided to close several care centers catering for working and street children, as well as those with incarcerated parents, amid evidence pointing to a lack of support for vulnerable children in the Iranian capital and other cities. The closed centers include the Nasser Khosro Children's House, Navid Mehr Children and Family Support Center. Institutions tasked with providing assistance to at-risk children appear to be falling short, with the participation of many children, particularly girls, in the illegal drug distribution network being of particular concern.
Their age often shields them from suspicion by law enforcement.
<Disturbingly, drugs are being concealed even within the clothing and bodies of girls as young as 7 or 8 years old,> a children's rights advocate in East Azerbaijan province tells IranWire. According to the activist, the indifference exhibited by judicial and law enforcement institutions toward vulnerable children is not only <disheartening but also appears to be deliberate and systematic.> This indifference stems from a belief that <these children are somehow deserving of their dire circumstances,> she said. Meanwhile, children's rights advocates are seen with suspicion by the authorities. <In encounters ranging from interrogations to professional meetings, intelligence and security agencies often question my involvement, suggesting that I redirect my focus and lead a quieter existence.> This activist's mission is to find and assist at-risk children in the marginalized areas of East Azerbaijan. His work has brought him face to face with a considerable number of children whose addicted parents partake in the distribution of narcotics within the fringes of Tabriz, the provincial capital. These children were abandoned on the streets after their parents had been incarcerated or taken to rehab centers. The activist shares the story of a child who found refuge under the care of compassionate neighbors when both parents were taken to custody. He also narrates the story of two siblings aged 8 and 9 who were entrusted to welfare services after their parents were arrested for engaging in drug-related transactions. Shockingly, the Welfare organization returned these innocent children to their addicted parents after their release. Activists' appeals urging the provincial judicial authorities to help distressed parents and their children were ultimately met with rebuke. <Their sole preoccupation and inquiry were directed at questioning the motives behind our search for these children and our pursuit of these issues.> According to information obtained by IranWire through citizen journalists, many children living in marginalized areas of East Azerbaijan have found themselves embroiled in the intricate web of drug distribution and trade. Some of these children were referred to the Welfare organization after school staff found drugs on them. In the marginalized enclaves of East Azerbaijan province, girls have become disproportionately ensnared in the activities of drug procurement, trade and distribution because smugglers believe that girls draw less suspicion than boys. When parents who are either drug addicts or involved in the narcotics trade are arrested, the institutions responsible for their welfare fail to formulate comprehensive plans for the well-being of their children, according to the children's rights advocate interviewed by IranWire. <In numerous instances, these children find themselves under the care of neighbors or distant relatives and are exposed to sexual and emotional exploitation,> he says. <At times, these innocent children are entrusted to individuals who subject them to perilous situations. Even though the judiciary is well aware of these individuals' involvement in the drug distribution network, it inexplicably leaves the child in their custody.> >>
Source:
https://iranwire.com/en/features/119253-underage-girls-and-illicit-drug-distribution-in-iran/

Jinha - Womens news agency - August 8,2023
<<9 Baha'i citizens arrested in Iran
News Center- The prison sentences given to nine Baha'i citizens have been upheld. After the court decision, nine people were arrested and sent to the Karaj Central Prison in Iran.
They have been banned from politics
Recently, the 12th branch of the Alborz Provincial Court of Appeal sentenced Kamyar Habibi and Saman Ostowar to five years in prison, Ramleh Tirgarnezhad, Elham Sharqi Arani to three years in prison, as well as Nakissa Sadeghi, Mahsa Tirgar Behnmiri, Sadaf Sheikhzadeh, Negin Rezaei and Shahrazad Mastori were sentenced to two years and one month in prison. For additional punishment, each of these citizens were fined, banned from leaving the country, and deprived of the right to join political, cultural, and social parties and groups. The charges against these citizens are <acting against national security through the participation and formation of a group of individuals with the intention of disrupting the country's security through promoting the Baha'i faith among children and teenagers>, <propaganda against the holy Islamic law through the education> and <Insult and propaganda activity against the holy law of Islam>. Last year, many supporters of the Baha'i faith were arrested in Iran on charges of <Spying against the country>. >>
Source:
https://jinhaagency1.com/en/actual/9-baha-i-citizens-arrested-in-iran-33656

Iranwire - August 7, 2023
<<Iranian Woman Prisoner Sews Lips in Prison, Launches Hunger Strike
A Kurdish woman incarcerated in north-western Iran has sewn her lips together at the start of a hunger strike to protest being denied leave from prison, a rights group has said. Soheila Mohammadi took the action in Urmia Central Prison because she was not granted a meeting with the regional prosecutor to ask for the furlough leave, the Norway-based Hengaw group, which monitors rights violations in Iran's Kurdish regions, reported on August 6. Mohammadi, who has served three years of a five year term, attempted suicide earlier this year by stabbing herself in the chest, Hengaw said, adding that her life was saved by intervention from fellow inmates. A mother of one child, she was arrested in 2020 and convicted of membership of the armed group Kurdistan Free Life Party (PJAK), which pushes for self-determination for Iran's Kurdish minority.>>
Source:
https://iranwire.com/en/prisoners/119249-iranian-woman-prisoner-sews-lips-in-prison-launches-hunger-strike/

Iranwire - August 7, 2023
<<Iran Hit by over 400 Labor Protests since Year's Start
Seventy Iranian cities have witnessed more than 406 labor protests since the beginning of the year, as dozens of trade union and labor activists have been subjected to severe reprisals just for trying to assert labor rights. That's according to the second Worker Rights Watch biannual report on worker protests and legal developments in Iran between January to June 2022 published by the Netherland-based Volunteer Activists (VA) non-profit organization. <I think the biggest challenge for Iranian workers is the violation of the rights to freedom of association and collective bargaining,> VA Executive Director Sohrab Razaghi said in an email to IranWire. <There are 24 million workers in Iran, this is a very large group and most of them have similar issues: 95% of workers have temporary contracts, low wages, and harsh working conditions. Their biggest challenge is, however, that they are powerless against the state and employers.> Unrest has rattled Iran since the summer of 2022 in response to declining living standards, wage arrears and a lack of welfare support, as the economy deteriorated following years of mismanagement compounded by crippling US sanctions.
The September death in police custody of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini sparked months of nationwide demonstrations that breathed new life into the labor protest movement. While the <Women, Life, Freedom> demonstrations decreased in intensity earlier this year, workers and labor activists continued their protest actions, including marches to the parliament building, strikes, sit-ins and online campaigns which the VA report says <aimed at changing law-making together with other representatives of Iran's civil society.>
....
<We see more and more that employers threaten to fire workers if they protest,> Razaghi said. <We have seen many examples of this, with worker representatives being fired during negotiation with employers. Employers have gotten more restrictive on worker protests, and they see that workers do not get support from anywhere. This makes the employers more confident in violating the labour law and restricting worker activism.>
According to the report, the main reasons behind the protests included:
Unindexed wages, benefits, and pensions: With Iran grappling with international sanctions and economic mismanagement, inflation has skyrocketed, leading to a surge in food prices. However, wages, pensions and benefits have not been consistently adjusted to keep up with these price hikes. As a result, widespread poverty has afflicted workers and their families, making it challenging for them to afford basic necessities like rent, food, clothing and medical expenses. Late wage payment: Many workers don't get paid for months, with the delays having a significant impact on the welfare of the workers and their families.
....
Job insecurity: Tragic instances such as workers ending their lives after sudden dismissals have underscored the high levels of job insecurity in Iran. The prevalence of temporary contracts leaves workers vulnerable to economic pressures, leading to anxiety and despair.
Company Mismanagement: Workers' protests are occasionally directed at the mismanagement and dysfunctionality of the companies they work for.
Lack of freedom of association: Iranian labor activists have called for the recognition of independent trade unions and freedom of association. While labor unions technically aren't prohibited, they face significant obstacles to registration and licensing, rendering independent unions and their activities effectively illegal.
<Change comes from power, and power comes from organization and association. Collectively, workers can be powerful, but they are not organized and cannot unionize in Iran,> according to Razaghi. <This is also why the regime is preventing the formation of independent unions and independent worker associations.> >>
Read more here:
https://iranwire.com/en/features/119248-iran-hit-by-over-400-labor-protests-since-years-start/

The Guardian - August 6, 2023 - by Diane Taylor
<<Asylum seeker who escaped from Iran says Dorset barge will be another 'jail'
Human rights lawyer says he has been unable to sleep in anticipation of move to Bibby Stockholm
An asylum seeker who was jailed in Iran for his human rights campaigning says he has not been able to sleep since receiving a notice that he is being moved to the Bibby Stockholm barge and said it would be another <jail> for him. The man, who cannot be named for security reasons, worked as a human rights lawyer and campaigner in Iran and was imprisoned for his anti-government activities. He managed to escape from Iran and claimed asylum on arrival in the UK several months ago, citing political persecution in his home country. The Home Office initially accommodated him in a hotel on the south coast but then issued him with a letter saying he was going to be moved to the controversial Bibby Stockholm barge in Portland, Dorset. Concerns have been raised about use of the barge for asylum seekers, including over fire safety, overcrowding and threats from the far right. It is understood that the first group of asylum seekers are due to be moved on to the barge on Monday. The man said: <While I'm living in the hotel, I can go outside and have a walk in the fresh air. I also have support from the community. I was shocked when I received a letter about a week ago from the Home Office telling me I was being sent to the Bibby Stockholm barge. We have seen the news about this barge. It is a kind of jail.>
He said he had been very stressed since receiving the letter and had been unable to sleep because of his fear of what would happen to him and other asylum seekers if they were taken to the barge. <I know of at least nine people in my hotel who got this letter. Everyone who received it is really upset and sad,> he said. The Home Office letter, signed by the alternative accommodation team, states that accommodation is changing to the Bibby Stockholm barge and while people will not be detained on the barge, they will need to sign in and out when they leave and return to the barge <so we can assure your safety>. The asylum seeker said he and others who had received the letter were most concerned about safety on the vessel.
Steve Smith, the chief executive of the refugee charity Care4Calais, which is supporting some of the asylum seekers who have received letters saying they are going to be moved to Bibby Stockholm, said: <Amongst those we are supporting are the survivors of torture, people with disabilities and people who have experienced trauma at sea. Housing any human on a 'floating prison' like the Bibby Stockholm is unacceptable. Doing so to people like this is completely inhumane. It is causing a huge amount of anxiety.> The asylum seeker said: <I know when other asylum seekers get letters from the Home Office saying they are being sent to Napier barracks in Folkestone, they are told how long they will stay there for. This letter gives us no information. We have no idea how long we will be kept on the barge for. We have read things about how the boat will not be safe for us. On the boat we will be out of the community. I worked as a human rights lawyer in Iran and I believe this plan by the Home Office is against human rights. Normal people would not go and live there. When I was in jail in Iran, I had a really hard time. All I want to do here is live a normal life, do positive things and be part of society.> >>
Read more here:
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/aug/06/asylum-seeker-iran-dorset-barge-bibby-stockholm-another-jail
Opinion by Gino d'Artali: I've been there be it in the Netherlands working with and for mostly Iranian refugee children, and supporting their parents as much as I could, and also there 'locked in' on a barge. The situation then and there were as inhuman as it is now on this bibby stockholm barge. Back then and there the situation got even more hostile against asylum seekers, threatened more and more by extreme political right. (neo-nazis).
Please allow me to share with you the story of and the dedicated to him poem I wrote with you:
PANTHA - click his name to read it - Thank you in the name of Pantha.

MEMO - Middle East Monitor - August 4, 2023
<<Wildfire sets off landmines around Tehran's Evin Prison, Iran judiciary says
A wildfire caused by hot weather briefly flared in grassland around Evin Prison in north Tehran, detonating landmines in a security zone around the facility on Friday, Iran's judiciary said. The judiciary's Mizan news agency said the fire that lasted only <a few minutes> was <immediately brought under control> and there was no damage to the prison facilities, Anadolu Agency reports. <The fire spread to the protected area of the hills around Evin Prison and caused the explosion of a number of mines,> Mizan said. It did not report any casualties or elaborate on the kind of mines involved.
The Prison, which is also surrounded by electrified barbed-wire, has long been the main site for holding prominent Iranian political prisoners, as well as foreigners and dual nationals.>>
Read more here:
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20230804-wildfire-sets-off-landmines-around-tehrans-evin-prison-iran-judiciary-says/
Opinion by Gino d'Artali: if you maybe think they had it so quickly under control think again because it was not to save the ones and mostly unjustly and innocently jailed and from getting hurt or even killed because they couldn't care less but to save the buildings and infrastructures.

MEMO - Middle East Monitor - August 3, 2023
<<French pundit lashes out at hijabi footballer
French journalist Philippe Guibert says Moroccan defender Nouhail Benzina's appearance in a hijab at the Women's World Cup is 'regressive'>>
Source:
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20230803-french-pundit-lashes-out-at-hijabi-footballer/


Iranwire - August 4, 2023 - by SHADYAR OMRANI
<<Influential Iranian Women: Shahnaz Azad (1901-1961)
When Shahnaz Azad (|born as| Roshdieh) published a sharply-toned article on the necessity of women's education in the autumn of 1920, with the above as the opening sentence, she was only 20 years old. This passionate young woman, whose newspaper, Women's Epistle, appeared more than 100 years ago, lit a bonfire under the deadwood of Iran's patriarchal and misogynistic society. She went on to serve as editor-in-chief of the fourth Iranian women’s newspaper, targeting hijab as the most significant cause of Iranian women's <backwardness> and insisted that women remove it, at a time when no woman was even allowed to leave her house without chador, veil and the permission of her male guardian or husband. Above its logo, her newspaper bore the legend <Women are Men's First Teachers.> Beneath, it said: <This newspaper is to awaken and redeem the rights of deprived and oppressed Iranian women.>
....
Azad was the eldest daughter of Mirza Hassan Tabrizi, the founder of modern education in Iran who became known as Hassan Roshdieh. Originally a native of the city of Tabriz, he went to the Ottoman Empire to continue his education. There, he became familiar with modern elementary schools called Roshdiehs which, contrary to the traditional schools in Iran, taught the alphabet to children aged six to nine years old.
....
When Roshdieh's daughter Shahnaz was born in 1901, he decided to educate his daughter himself.
In the same year when Shahnaz's father began teaching her, the first rumbles of the Constitutionalist Movement were heard. Shahnaz's education coincided with the signing of the Constitutional Order by the Shah and other historic events which later encouraged her to join progressive women's associations at a young age. Shahnaz's father went further than mere homeschooling. He took her and her sister, disguised in boys' clothing, to school and made them promise not to disclose that they were girls. Their clandestine study behind the boys' desks at the school where their father was the principal lasted for several years, until finally, by the efforts of Bibi Khanoom Astarabadi and later Tuba Azmudeh, girls' schools were established and Roshdieh’s daughters took their places there instead. Shahnaz was just 16 years old when she married a famous journalist, Abolghasem Azad Maraghei. Because her husband was an intellectual, the marriage did not hinder her further education or social activities.
....
The marriage gave Shahnaz the freedom she needed to become more active in political and journalistic spheres. Together with Abolghasem, she founded the Women's Epistle newspaper, a radical and progressive publication that criticized the patriarchal society. Shahnaz, who was only 19, wrote the editorials. In the inaugural issue, she wrote: <What is there that hinders us to see with our own eyes, hear with our own ears, and walk on our healthy feet on the highway of progress? Hijab, delusions, and the shackles of fogeyism.> <To be frank, European women work much better than Iranian men. It is surprising that Iranians have still not realized that if women are not educated, men will not become the kind of men they should be. Aren't women their life-companion? In that case how can he allow his house, his life, his properties, his respect and dignity, to fall into the hands of an illiterate woman?> <Women's education,> Azad concluded, <is more imperative than men's because men's knowledge depends on women's knowledge, and not otherwise. In all countries, women number more than men. If they do not see women's education as necessary, then half the world will be out of the sphere of humanity, and the rest, men, will also be out as a result of their mothers' ignorance.> >>
Read all here:
https://iranwire.com/en/women/119182-influential-iranian-women-shahnaz-azad-1901-1961/


Central committee of the PMOI - MEK with centered President Maryam Rajavi
NCRI - in Articles, Women's News - August 4, 2023
<<Iranian women lead the force for change in Iran
August 5, 1993, marks a milestone in the struggles of Iranian women, and the Iranian opposition, the PMOI/MEK which forms the backbone of the democratic alternative to the clerical regime, the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI). On this day, 24 women were unanimously voted to the PMOI's all-female Leadership Council to hold the helms of affairs in the organization.
Twelve years after the beginning of the Iranian Resistance when Iranian women remained steadfast despite enduring tremendous suffering and torture in their struggle for freedom and democracy; and four years after Maryam Rajavi became the PMOI's Secretary General in 1989, this long line of battle-tested women were recognized as best qualified to rise to the movement's leadership. The landmark event drew a clear distinction between the Iranian opposition and its foe; the former striving for gender equality and women's participation in leadership and the latter thriving on subjugation of women as a main pillar of its rule. The PMOI was convinced that if it were to overcome Tehran's religious dictatorship, it would have to cast aside all remnants of fundamentalist ideology and culture, including male-domination. Thus, women's leadership in the PMOI/MEK was not about some women replacing men to continue in their footsteps with the same values and methods. Rather, women's participation in the leadership inspired a major cultural transformation in the ranks of the Resistance and among women all across the country who faced gender apartheid in all realms of their lives. As a result of the struggle of these pioneering women and their valuable achievements, the world witnessed the hegemonic role of Iranian women in the course of the 2009 uprising. In fact, three major elements steered women in that path: years of struggle for freedom and equality; the misogynist nature of the ruling regime; and the presence of an organized resistance with gender equality as its ideal.
....
Today, as the social conditions in our homeland, Iran, is simmering with strong discontent, the message to Iran's valiant young men is to rise up in defense of freedom and equality if they want to realize the Iranian people's freedom. The fact that women bear the brunt of repression in Iran, reveals the regime’s defensive tactic against the existential threat it feels from women. The imposition of the mandatory veil on women and flagrant discriminations against them in educational and vocational arenas are only efforts to enchain women. Iranian women have proven their effective and growing role in the struggle against the mullahs' religious tyranny, in the scenes of confrontation with the Revolutionary Guards, in their unprecedented resistance in the regime's torture chambers and dungeons, through their presence in the first ranks of anti-regime demonstrations, in organizing the teachers and workers' protests and protests by other social strata, in organizing and leading an international social and political movement against the religious fascism ruling Iran, and in their active assumption of responsibilities in the organized movement of the Iranian Resistance.>>
Source:
Read more here:
https://women.ncr-iran.org/2023/08/04/iranian-women-lead-force-change-iran/

Iranwire - August 4, 2023
<<Ex-Political Prisoner Pouria Ahmadi Arrested with Wife after Car Fired Upon
Iranian security forces have violently arrested former political prisoner Pouria Ahmadi, along with his wife and their four-year-old child. A source close to the family told IranWire that the arrest occurred on August 1, while the three were traveling in Ahmadi's car from Sanandaj to Marivan in western Kurdistan province. Intelligence officers opened fire on the vehicle and, after Ahmadi stopped, subjected him and his wife, Sahar, to brutal beatings.
The couple's young son, Barzin, suffered injuries to his face and body caused by the shattering of the car's windows. Ahmadi and his wife were taken to the Ministry of Intelligence in Sanandaj, while the boy was handed over to Ahmadi's parents following a 48-hour wait. The reasons behind the arrests remain unknown. Ahmadi is a former head of the National Unity Party's Education Department in Kurdistan province. He was arrested in February 2019 by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Intelligence Organization in Sanandaj and released on bail after enduring 15 days of interrogation. In May of the same year, Ahmadi was arrested again, this time by agents of the Sanandaj Intelligence Department, and was interrogated for 10 days. He secured his release by posting bail amounting to 300 million tomans ($6,000).>>
Source:
https://iranwire.com/en/news/119184-ex-political-prisoner-pouria-ahmadi-arrested-with-wife-after-car-fired-upon/
 
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