BAHARIN LEHIB

 Kabul- The Iranian government keeps using the death penalty against women demanding freedom.

 On November 10, Warisha Moradi, a women’s rights defender and member of the East Kurdistan Free Women Society (KJAR) who was arrested by Iranian security forces on August 1, 2023, was sentenced to death by Branch 15 of the Tehran Islamic Revolutionary Court on charges of “armed rebellion” against the Iranian regime.

Expressing their solidarity with the women in Iran and Eastern Kurdistan, Afghan women say “a joint struggle against the oppression of religious ideologies is a must.”

‘We suffer from the same oppression’

“The Iranian regime has sentenced Warisha Moradi and Pakhshan Azizi for defending women’s rights,” said Mina Askari, a children’s rights activist in Afghanistan. “The aim is to silence the voices of those fighting for freedom. Women in Afghanistan and Iran suffer from the same oppression. We express our solidarity with Warisha Moradi, Pakhshan Azizi and all women political prisoners in Iran. We demand immediate release of all political prisoners.”

 “In Iran, women are targeted because they play an important role in uprisings,” said Yalda Ahmed, an Afghan psychologist and women's rights activist. “The resistance and courage of Iranian women has become a role model for women fighting for freedom all around the world.”

Calling on all women to fight against fundamentalists and extremists and take their rights back, Yalda Ahmed said, “Since its establishment, the Islamic Republic of Iran has always oppressed women demanding freedom. During the ‘Jin, Jiyan, Azadi’ uprising, many young men and women were arrested, sent to torture centers and killed in the streets. Now, Iran’s prisons are full of women’s rights defenders such as Warisha Moradi, Pakhshan Azizi and Zeinab Jalalian. The vampire regime of Iran accuses women activists of armed rebellion and sentences them to death. As Afghan women, we express our solidarity with Iranian women.”

 ‘They cannot intimidate women’

Nilufar Shoja, an Afghan activist, also expressed her solidarity with the women of Iran. “Our Iranian sisters and we live in countries forcing us to wear hijabs. I was filled with anger when I heard that Warisha Moradi had been sentenced to death. Condemning the death sentences is insufficient. As an Afghan woman, I express my solidarity with my Iranian sisters. The Iranian regime cannot intimidate women by sentencing them to death. One day, the fascist regime of Iran will be thrown into the dustbin of history.”