NEWS CENTER - IHRNGO Director Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam stated that what every single person in Iran has been experiencing for many years has been symbolised by what they saw in Jina Emînî and said, "The 'women, life, freedom' movement was a turning point and different from all other protests we have seen in the last 40 years. Compared to the resistance in the past, it was a resistance that included everyone." 

 

Jina Emini from Rojhilat, who was detained in Iran on 13 September for "not wearing her hijab (headscarf) properly", died after 3 days in a coma due to torture. After Jina Emini was buried in her hometown Seqiz on 17 September, the protests that started in Rojhilat and many cities and towns in Iran soon turned into a resistance calling for the overthrow of the regime. The resistance, which brought together millions of people from different beliefs, identities and political lines under the leadership of women, lasted for months.

 

As the anniversary of the "Jin, jiyan, azadî (Woman, life, freedom)" protests that spread from Iran to the whole world is approaching, the pressure, arrests, torture and death sentences against liberals, especially women, have intensified day by day since then. Pexşan Ezîzî, Şerîfe Mihemedî and Werîşe Muradî face the risk of execution at any moment. The reports published by the Iran Human Rights Organisation (IHRNGO) since the resistance clearly reveal the extent of human rights violations in the country. 

 

INCREASED EXECUTIONS AND SYSTEMATIC REPRESSION

 

IHRNGO reported that 218 human rights defenders were arrested and harassed in just the first three months after the "Jin, jiyan, azadî" resistance, while 834 people were executed in 2022. In IHRNGO's report dated 15 September 2023, it was announced that 551 activists, including 68 children and 49 women, were murdered. According to the organisation's 2024 report, at least 975 people were executed, an increase of 17 percent compared to 2023. At least 920 people, including 25 women, have been executed since the beginning of 2025. While the vast majority of executions over the years have been carried out for drug, murder and security offences, minorities have been disproportionately affected. 

 

WOMEN TARGETED 

 

IHRNGO's reports also reveal the severe pressure and violence that women are exposed to. While 49 women activists were reported to have lost their lives in 2023, a significant number of these women died under suspicious circumstances. Women rights defenders face inhumane practices such as execution, imprisonment and physical torture. According to 2023 reports, more than 150 human rights defenders were arrested and sentenced to a total of 541 years in prison. This shows that the Iranian regime is pursuing a systematic strategy of intimidation against the women's liberation movement.

 

IHRNGO Director Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam spoke to Mezopotamya Agency (MA) on the occasion of the death of Jina Emînî and the 3rd anniversary of the "Jin, jiyan, azadî" protests that started after her death. Stating that Iran is going through a process that can be called an "crisis of execution", Amiry-Moghaddam said: "5 to 6 people are executed every day." 

 

DIFFERENCE FROM THE LAST 40 YEARS

 

He stated that after the "Jin, jiyan, azadi" resistance, the regime continued to impose the "compulsory hijaba" on women, but women showed civil disobedience by not wearing the headscarf, especially in metropolises. Amiry-Moghaddam said: "The Iranian authorities have not made any reforms to change the situation of women. Whatever women have achieved, they have achieved through their resistance. I think the 'women, life, freedom' movement was a turning point and different from all other protests we have seen in the last 40 years. Because for the first time all Iranians, regardless of their ethnicity, religious background, gender, stood side by side against the oppression represented by the Islamic Republic." 

 

Amiry-Moghaddam emphasised that the "Jin, jiyan, azadî" resistance is an all-inclusive resistance compared to the resistances of the past: "There is solidarity between all genders and minorities. All dictators, especially totalitarian dictators, normally benefit only a small part of the population that supports them. Minorities and women, in most cases, are oppressed. So I would say that in this movement we all find the common cause of our suffering and that common cause is the system. I think this is the reason for solidarity. Jîna Mahsa Emînî, as a woman from Kurdistan, had many of these characteristics. I think this is why what happened to her became unbearable for the society. Because each of them saw in one person what they had been experiencing for many years, and that is why she became a symbol." 

 

JUDICIAL SYSTEM IN IRAN 

 

Amiry-Moghaddam pointed out that the Iranian judiciary is not an independent judicial system and that the aim of all judges is "to protect the system, not to establish justice", adding that fake trials are held to make it look like "there is a judicial system". Amiry-Moghaddam said: "For example, many of these people sentenced to death by the revolutionary courts have access to lawyers, but in many cases the documents of the defendants are not accessible. So basically the revolutionary courts are handing down sentences that others have ordered them to hand down. That is why every single execution in Iran is an extrajudicial execution because there is no due process, there is no fair trial. In almost every case we analysed, especially in death penalty cases, the defendants were forced to make confessions against each other. In other words, the allegations in the courts are based on forced confessions." 

 

SYSTEM AND SOCIETY AGAINST WOMEN 

 

He stated that when it comes to the situation of women, they are confronted with society as well as the law and the system. Stating that women in prisons do not receive support from their families, are forced to marry at a young age and are not given the right to divorce by the system, Amiry Moghaddam cocluded: "Here, the system, the law and some segments of society work hand in hand to oppress women. One of the things we are trying to do is to make people aware of the violations of their rights. For example the regime has a law that says that a woman who does not cover her hair can be flogged 74 times. But at the same time, there are some men who do this to their sisters or daughters at home. We are trying to make people aware that we need to fight against inequality and discrimination both on the streets and at home."

 

MA / Hivda Çelebi