JINHA

NEWS CENTER – In the wake of the death of young Kurdish woman Ferinaz Xosrawanî in the city of Mahabad, the state of uprising in Eastern Kurdistan (in Iran) has spread to the entire region. Roads between cities in the region, particularly roads to Mahabad, are closed, with thousands of Revolutionary Guard armored vehicles stationed around the cities of Eastern Kurdistan.

Young Kurdish woman Ferinaz Xosrawanî, who had graduated in computer science, worked at the Tara Hotel in the city of Mahabad to support her family. When a member of the Iranian intelligence organization attempted to rape Ferinaz, she attempted to escape by fleeing through a fourth-floor window to the balcony below. After she fell to her death, the city of Mahabad rose up. The Iranian regime has now declared a state of emergency not just in Mahabad, but in all the cities of Eastern Kurdistan.

The Kurdistan Human Rights Network reports that entry and exit into the city is forbidden and that thousands of armored vehicles have been stationed in cities throughout the region—particularly heavily in Bokan, Şino, Sine (Sanandaj) and Merîwan. Soldiers called in from as far away as Tabriz and Miandoab have been stationed between the cities and KHRN reports dozens of checkpoints and roadblocks on the roads in the region. However, a group traveling from the Sine and Bokan region managed to reach Mahabad using an alternate route.

The flow of information from the city has been blocked, with most of Mahabad's Internet and telephone lines cut off. As a result, clear information on the amount of deaths, arrests and wounded in the city is hard to come by. Iranian officials report 27 wounded, seven of them police. At least five of the wounded have been jailed. Among their number is a civilian named Omid Osmani.

Kurdish youth Xalîd Deryanuş has lost both of his eyes from a rubber bullet wound after being transported to a hospital in Tabriz. Iranian Revolutionary Guards struck Xalîd in the eye with rubber bullets as they attempted to suppress the protests on Thursday. Another civilian was taken to a hospital in Urmia, but there is no further information on his or her condition.

The people in the streets have been reacting to the Iranian state news agency IRNA's representation of the protest as an "emotional reaction." The news report also claimed that, "Mahabad officials have apprehended the suspect and say they will heavily punish him if he is found guilty," but locals protested that the one person arrested is not the intelligence official suspected of the crime.

Said Montazerolmahdi, assistant constable in the Iranian police force, refused to give the name or occupation of the person arrested in an interview with another state news agency, Tasnim, but claimed that the suspect had confessed.

Aliraza Radfer, assistant governor for Urmia province, said that the autopsy of Ferinaz's body did not show signs of rape. The assistant governor, attempting to impugn Ferinaz, claimed that Ferinaz had been having sex with someone in the hotel when other hotel staff discovered her, and that at this point hotel owner Nadir Moludi called her family. "This was when Ferinaz tried to get from one room to another using the balcony and fell," he said. Local sources say that Nadir Moludi had a hand in the rape attempt and was a state guard. They say that he is currently under protection by regime forces.

(avt/nt/cm)