Iran
Amjad Amini stands by the grave of his daughter Zhina (Mahsa) Amini, whose death sparked Iran’s Woman, Life, Freedom revolution, in Saqqez. File photo: Kurdistan Human Rights Network
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ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The father of Zhina (Mahsa) Amini, whose death ignited the Woman Life Freedom revolution in Iran, was summoned to a court after expressing solidarity with a Kurdish political prisoner sentenced to death, he said on Friday.
Amjad Amini posted on Instagram earlier this month protesting the death penalty handed down to Pakhshan Azizi, a social worker convicted of armed rebellion.
“The next day, two more messages arrived stating that I had a case in the criminal and revolutionary courts,” Amini said on social media.
He was summoned to the Saqqez prosecutor’s office and appeared on January 18 when he was charged with “spreading falsehoods.”
“Not even 48 hours had passed before I received another notice. For the charge of spreading falsehoods, with which I was formally charged, a decision of non-prosecution was issued. However, I was found guilty of propaganda against the state, which was neither mentioned in the summons nor explained to me by the investigator, and a prosecution order was issued,” he added.
There are now an unspecified number of cases opened against Amini in Iranian courts, according to the Kurdistan Human Rights Network.
The death sentences handed down to Aziz and another Kurdish woman Wrisha (Varisheh) Moradi have drawn international criticism and sparked protests in western Iran (Rojhelat).
Iranian Kurdish opposition groups called for a general strike and shops and businesses across Kurdish areas closed their doors on Wednesday. They defied a warning from security forces who said that joining the protest could mean prosecution for membership in a terrorist organization, Hengaw Organization for Human Rights reported.
After the Woman Life Freedom (Jin Jiyan Azadi) protests of 2022, Iranian authorities have “intensified their use of the death penalty to instill fear among the population and tighten their grip on power,” especially targeting minority populations like Kurds and Baluchis, as well as women, according to Amnesty International.
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