Women prosecuted for 'terrorism' over photos of Jina Amini and Narin Güran

An investigation has been opened against Kurdish women who hung photos of Jina Amini and Narin Güran on bridges in Silopi district of Şirnak for "propaganda for a terrorist organization."

The photographs of Jina Amini, who was murdered in Tehran, the capital of Iran, on 16 September 2022, and Narin Güran (8 years old), who was found murdered on 19 August after going missing in a village in Diyarbakir province, were used by the judiciary to accuse women of “propaganda for a terrorist organization.” Activists of the Free Women’s Movement (Tevgera Jinên Azad-TJA) in Silopi (Silopiya), hung the photographs of Jina Amini and Narin Güran on the bridges on 16 September, the 2nd anniversary of Amini’s murder. On the day of the protest, the women were investigated for “spreading propaganda for a terrorist organization.”

Interrogated by police for 5 hours

TJA activist Özlem Fındık and the provincial co-chairs of the Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party), Elif Oruç and Adnan Kaplan, were summoned to the police station for a statement on the instructions of the prosecutor’s office. The three people were released after their statements at the police station. Stating that they testified for 5 hours at the police station, TJA activist Özlem Fındık said: “They asked why and on what instructions we hung the pictures. They tried to criminalize the TJA. They don’t even tolerate that we commemorate a woman and a child who were murdered by patriarchate. An investigation was launched at full speed the night we hung the photos. Because they are afraid. They are afraid that women will struggle and not submit. They want women to stay at home. Their main goal is to suppress the organized struggle of women.”

Fındık continued: “Instead of bringing the murderers of Narin Güran to justice, the state is rushing to investigate us women and taking our statements in the middle of the night. Why weren’t they so quick to find Narin’s murderers? We will continue to be the voice of women, children and society around the world through our organized struggle. From here, we will raise the voice of a woman murdered in Iran. The voice of another woman murdered here will rise to the other side of the world. We will expand our organized struggle against the male-dominated mentality.”