Joint statement of women's rights activists, justice seekers, and supporters of the Women, Life, Freedom revolution in support of Roya Heshmati and condemning compulsory hijab and flogging

A group of women's rights activists, justice seekers, and supporters of the Women, Life, Freedom revolution stated support of Roya Heshmati and condemned compulsory hijab and flogging.

The statement reads, Roya Heshmati's account of being flogged for not wearing hijab, on the day that is named Women's Day in the Islamic Republic's calendar; but this day is in fact in stark contrast to the women who demand freedom and equality, in contrast to the women who have resisted and acted against the domination of religious and patriarchal laws and repression; a struggle that has manifested itself in the most beautiful way possible in the Woman, Life, Freedom revolution.

A copy of this statement, which was obtained by Kurdpa, follows:

Joint statement of women's rights activists, justice seekers, and supporters of the Woman, Life, Freedom revolution in support of Roya Heshmati and condemning compulsory hijab and flogging.

Roya Heshmati is a woman who, by recounting her resistance against compulsory hijab and chanting "Women, Life, Freedom" under her lashes, breathed warm blood into the veins of the Women, Life, Freedom revolution and presented proof of an undeniable truth that how the glorious Women, Life, Freedom revolution has penetrated the layers of women's and society's lives and is in progress and continues its path to complete victory with the indescribable resistance of women against the anti-woman Islamic regime.

Roya Heshmati's story is a story of the courage, and revolutionary determination of her and all Iranian women who, in more than four decades, have come forward with perseverance, protest, and struggle in a hard and exhausting path, and have become revolutionary symbols, for radical change in the direction of women's and society's liberation and have had a significant impact and share and role in creating a deep ground for the occurrence of a women's revolution in Iran, which is the first in history.

Roya Heshmati's narration of being flogged for not wearing hijab, on the day that is named Women's Day in the Islamic Republic's calendar; but this day is in fact in stark contrast to the women who demand freedom and equality, in contrast to the women who have resisted and acted against the domination of religious and patriarchal laws and repression; a struggle that has manifested itself in the most beautiful way possible in the Women, Life, Freedom revolution.

We, the activists of the new movement for women's liberation, justice seekers, and supporters of the Women, Life, Freedom revolution from inside Iran and around the world, strongly condemn compulsory hijab, Islamic laws, and the horrific flogging sentence that displays the savagery and brutality of the Islamic regime and while sending infinite greetings to Roya Heshmati, we firmly support her. We believe that these women who have insisted on their inherent rights, their dignity and status, and honor of themselves and their fellow human beings, represent millions of women in Iran who have said and said "no" to injustice, compulsory hijab, and oppression of women and society. Women like Roya Heshmati who play an important role in the expansion and deepening of "universal unveiling" - one of the achievements of the women, Life, Freedom revolution after the conquest of the hijab's trench - women who every day resist and fight against the murderous Islamic regime and do not allow the spilled blood to be trampled; they will surely have an impact on the progress of the current revolution. Therefore, they become threats and big obstacles that make the Islamic regime's attempt to stop our revolution futile and pave the way for the return of widespread protests in the not-too-distant future.

We, the signatories of this statement, call for the widespread support of women, students, pupils, rainbow people, teachers, workers, retirees, and the general public for Roya Heshmati and all women who, with courage and wisdom and resistance, and constant struggle, not only do not let the flag of protest fall even with arrest and prison and rape and flogging and torture but also keep the flames of the women, Life, Freedom revolution alive and herald victory, liberation and a bright future.

Yasmin Aryani - civil and women's rights activist

Raha Ahmadi - defender of women's and children's rights

Ladan Bazargan - sister of justice seeker Bijan Bazargan from the executed of summer 1988

Kokab Bodaghi Pegah - teacher union activist

Nosrat Beheshti - retired teacher, activist in the field of women and labor

Mahsa Pirayi - daughter of justice seeker Minoo Majidi from the martyrs of the Women, Life, Freedom revolution

Azadeh Davachi - women's rights activist

Fereshteh Didani - women's rights activist

Sara Siahpour - teacher union activist

Shirin Shams - one of the leaders of the women's organization

Hadis Sabouri - women's rights activist, former political prisoner

Narges Zarifian - women's rights activist

Monire Arabshahi - former political prisoner and women's rights activist

Sohail Arabi - political prisoner in exile, legal worker

Mahbubeh Farahzadi - Member of the Board of Directors of Tehran Teachers Union

Mozhgan Keshavarz - women's rights activist

Avin Mostafazadeh - human and women's rights activist

Khadije Mehdipour - political activist

Rada Mardani - teacher movement activist

Fariba Borhan Zehi - women's rights activist from Balochistan

Soran Mansoornia - the brother of the plaintiff Borhan Mansoornia, one of those killed in November 2018

Puran Nazimi - women's rights activist