JINHA

AMED – As protests in Mahabad continue for FerinazXosrawanî, women in the Northern Kurdistan city of Diyarbakır held a sit-in against the Iranian regime and rape culture.

FerinazXosrawanî threw herself from the window of the hotel where she worked in the Kurdish city of Mahabad, in Eastern Kurdistan (Iran), on May 4th to escape a rape attempt, apparently by Iranian security forces. As Kurds in Mahabad refuse to abandon the streets in what has turned into a fierce clash with the Iranian state, solidarity actions have spread across Kurdistan.

Women of the Congress of Free Women (KJA) held a sit-in to declare their solidarity with the people of Mahabad today. The city's co-mayors, GültanKışanak and FıratAnlı, were present alongside grassroots activists from the KJA, union confederation KESK, the Peace Mothers Assembly and the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) and Democratic Regions Party (DBP).

"Resist, Mahabad, Kurdistan is with you," chanted the women at their sit-in, holding signs saying "self-defense is legitimate." Shopkeepers near the AZC Plaza came out clapping and crying, "long live women's just rebellion" in support of the sit-in.

"We are calling on all women to show a reflex against this inhumane event and to start protests and actions," said the women, in an announcement read in Kurdish and Turkish.

The city's co-mayor GültanKışanak noted that this was merely the latest example of the Iranian state's attacks on Kurds."Every month, Iran's attacks on the people of Rojhilat [Eastern Kurdistan] occur through the execution of a few young Kurds who want to live a democratic life," she noted. "Rape is a continuation of these policies, which is why the Iranian regime does not want to try the rapist security officers." She sent greetings to the people of Rojhilat, taking to the streets for Ferinaz.

One of those present at the action was RojbinBehrami, originally from Eastern Kurdistan.

"The Iranian regime has been using scare tactics against the people for years," she said. "Enough of this cruelty. As women living under the threat of rape in all four parts of Kurdistan, let's take to the squares."

(sg-zd/fk/cm)