Activists of the KJA (Congress of Free Women, formerly DÖKH) staged demos in a number of cities in North Kurdistan to protest yesterday's incident in Mahabad city of East Kurdistan where a Kurdish woman committed suicide to avoid rape by Iranian intelligence (Itlaat) agents.

Women called for solidarity with the uprising sparked by 25-year-old Ferinaz Xosrowanî who was attacked while at workplace Hotel Tara.

AMED

A number of demonstrators led by KJA activists gathered outside AZC Plaza in Ofis district of Amed, including HDP Amed MP Candidate Sibel Yiğitalp, Amed Co-Mayor Gültan Kışanak and representatives of women's organizations. "Violence against women is ideological, self-defense is legitimate", "Mahabad is resisting" read the banners carried by demonstrators.

In a statement on behalf of KJA, Sibel Yiğitalp stressed that thousands of women have been systematically raped and threatened by security forces in Kurdistan, saying; "What was targeted in the person of Ferinaz Xosrawanî, who committed suicide to avoid rape, is the Kurdistan lands, language, culture and struggle for existence."

Condemning the Mahabad incident in the strongest terms, Yiğitalp called for the urgent ending of the attacks on the people, and the trial of rapist Iranian intelligence agents and hotel owner Nadir Moludi.

Speaking after, Amed co-mayor Gültan Kışanak said the Mahabad incident was the rebellion of Ferinaz and the Kurdish people against Iran, vowing to "take ownership of Ferinaz's uprising and greaten it".

An Iranian Kurdish woman, Rojin Behrami, who also joined the demo said the Kurdish people rose up because what happened to Ferinaz was neither the first nor the last one. Calling on all Kurdistan people to join the uprising, Behrami pointed out that Ferinaz committed suicide to make it heard what was happening in Iran.

SİİRT

KJA activists in Siirt also held a demo outside the HDP election office with the participation of hundreds including HDP Siirt MP candidates, representatives of NGOs and co-mayors.

In a statement on behalf of KJA Siirt branch, IHD Central Executive Board member Vetha Aydın called attention to the ongoing attacks of exploitative states against the Kurdish people and their values under the name of ISIS, comparing the Mahabad attack to the savagery of the ISIS gangs.

Underlining that yesterday's attack in Mahabad targeted the Kurdish women and people's honour, Aydın recalled that the attack which targeted the Kurdish women in the person Ferinaz Xosrowanî has turned into an uprising and expanded to the other cities of East Kurdistan.

Aydın said that the Iranian state tried to humiliate the honour of both women and the Kurdish people by means of rape and similar practices.

AĞRI

Another demo for Ferinaz Xosrowanî was held in Doğubayazıt district of Ağrı where women strongly condemned the murder of the young Kurdish women.
Demonstrators condemned the femicide and called on women's organizations to take ownership of Xosrowani.

HAKKARİ

Thousands also took to the streets in Hakkari where demonstrators pointed out that the brutality the Kurdish people faced in Mahabad and Meriwan was the same as the savagery they faced in Kobanê and Sinjar.

In a statement following a march from the city centre to the municipality building, DBP provincial co-chair Cevahir Keskin drew attention to the repression of the Iranian regime, and commented the Mahabad incident as an attack targeting the Kurdish people and women's honour.

Comparing the Mahabad attack to that of ISIS gangs, Keskin said; “ISIS is selling women in slave markets and making them a target for rape. In the same way, the Iranian regime is trying to humiliate the women honour by committing rape.”