The Rojava Women’s Movement, Kongra Star, issued a statement addressed to women calling for solidarity with Warisha Moradi, a Kurdish activist jailed by the Iranian regime who has gone on hunger strike against the death penalty in Iran.

The statement said: "Over the past two years, Iran has repeatedly been the source of painful news about death sentences against brave women and men executed by the Iranian regime. In 2024, 20 death sentences against women have already been carried out in Iran.

We recently received a small bit of good news when we learned that the Iranian Supreme Court overturned the death sentence of labor activist Sharifeh Mohammadi and sent it back to another court for review. She was arrested in Rasht, Iran, in December 2023, charged with “rebellion” and sentenced to death. She was physically and psychologically tortured in detention. For all of us who have fought internationally for her and other women’s release, this has shown that the common struggle is fruitful!"

Kongra Star added: "One of the leading figures of this resistance is Kurdish political prisoner Warisha Moradi, herself held in Tehran’s Evin Prison. She had already refused to attend one of her court hearings on 4 August to protest the death sentences handed down to her fellow prisoners Pakshan Azizi and Sharifah Mohammadi.

Warisha Moradi began an indefinite hunger strike on 10 October, World Day Against the Death Penalty. The Kurdish activist is protesting the death penalty in Iran, the death sentences handed down to other activists, and the extension of her own detention."

The statement continued: "Since mid-May 2024, Warisha Moradi has been deprived of family meetings and phone calls with her family and lawyer. This illegal action was intended to exert additional psychological pressure on her. Her indefinite detention so far without due process constitutes a serious violation of human rights, violating Articles 9 and 14 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

Despite the authorities’ efforts to break her morale, Moradi refuses to capitulate. By announcing an indefinite hunger strike, she courageously shows what it means to fight against injustice and to defend herself and others!"

Kongra Star said it supports "Warisha Moradi’s demands for an end to the death penalty, better prison conditions, guaranteed access to health care, and the release of her and other political prisoners.

We also call on all women’s organizations to stand in solidarity with her and all other women currently detained in Iranian prisons. We continue to support the campaign ‘No to execution, yes to free life’

Let’s make our solidarity visible through protests, actions and by spreading the voices and demands of these women! Join the campaign, write letters and spread information about the ongoing war against women in Iran. Let’s make Warisha Moradi’s hunger strike our common struggle!"