Iran: Twelve foreign ministers, all women, condemn bloody crackdown on women’s rights protests

Twelve female foreign ministers, following the initiative of Canadian Melanie Jolie, yesterday Wednesday jointly condemned the deadly crackdown on women’s rights protests in Iran, which have now lasted 41 days.

“As women and foreign ministers, we feel we have a responsibility to echo the voice of the women of Iran,” said the heads of diplomacy of Albania, Andorra, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Iceland, Kosovo , of Libya, Liechtenstein, New Zealand and Norway in their joint press release.

The twelve Foreign Ministers expressed their “solidarity with the courageous Iranian women who exercise their right to peaceful assembly and defend their fundamental rights”.

The ministers simultaneously condemned “the violent enforcement” of Iran’s headscarf law and “the ongoing crackdown on protesters”, in which at least 141 people, including children, have been killed, according to a tally released yesterday by the NGO Iran Human Rights (IHR), based in Oslo.

Mahsha Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian-Kurdish woman, died on September 16, three days after she was arrested in Tehran by morality police, who accused her of not covering her hair fully and thus violating the Islamic Republic’s extremely strict laws on the women’s dress code.

Her death sparked mass protests that continue across Iran. Young women and schoolgirls are on the front lines, with their heads uncovered, setting their headscarves on fire, defying the security forces.

Non-governmental organization Hengaw reported on Twitter that after a gathering in Mahsha Amini’s hometown of Sayez, where a ceremony was held to mark 40 days of mourning for her death, members of the security forces fired tear gas and live bullets.

RES-EMP

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