Iran Targets Women Activists on Protest Movement Anniversary

Iranian intelligence officials contacted and summoned several women activists in the Kurdish city of Sanandaj on Monday, a rights group said.

The Hengaw Organization for Human Rights reported that intelligence officers made coordinated phone calls in recent days aimed at pressuring women activists and restricting their civic activities.

The calls were described as threatening and intended to create fear and psychological pressure.

Several activists were also summoned for interrogation by security officials.

The crackdown comes as security forces tightened control across Kurdish cities to prevent gatherings marking the anniversary of the protest movement that began after Mahsa Amini’s death in police custody on September 16, 2022.

Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish woman, died after being arrested by morality police for allegedly violating Iran’s mandatory hijab rules.

Her death sparked months of nationwide protests under the slogan “Woman, Life, Freedom.”

The demonstrations posed one of the biggest challenges to Iran’s theocratic government since the 1979 Islamic Revolution before being violently suppressed.

Rights groups say hundreds of protesters were killed and thousands arrested during the crackdown.

Kurdish regions, where Amini was from, saw some of the most sustained protests during the movement.