Pakistani activists stand in solidarity with Iranian women as protests enter fourth month

KARACHI: As antigovernment demonstrations in Iran entered a fourth month, prominent Pakistani activists and politicians continued to stand in solidarity with Iranian women who drove the protests that flared over the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in the custody of morality police.

Amini, an Iranian Kurdish woman who was visiting Tehran, went into a coma at a police station after being violently detained on accusations of not properly wearing her headscarf on Sept. 13. She died three days later.

Her death sparked the protests which were initially driven by women’s rights but have since expanded to include other grievances and spread to all of Iran’s 31 provinces — the largest manifestation of dissent in over a decade — despite a violent response from authorities.

“Brave protesters aren’t giving up and we are four months into a youth-led movement of sorts now,” Benazir Jatoi, an Islamabad-based lawyer whose work focuses on women and minority rights, told Arab News on Saturday.

“As neighbors and women from Pakistan who have had a history of repressive laws targeted at women, we must show solidarity and empathy.”

Hundreds of people, including children, have been killed by Iranian security forces and thousands arrested in the unrest, leading to international sanctions, condemnation and Iran’s removal from a UN women’s rights body earlier this week.

Pakistani rights activists like Farzana Bari also condemned Iranian state repression.

“I condemn the way they are treating the protesters and the kind of injustice they inflicted on the protesters,” she said.

“I salute the kind of resistance in the field.”

Pakistani politicians, too, have been expressing support for Iranian protesters.

“The Iranian women protesting in their country are very brave. And they are not only being encouraged by us but also within Iran,” Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari said during his UN address earlier this week.

“We have seen that time and time again, Iranians have been very brave in their political activities, their activism, and their protesting.”

Naz Baloch, member of the National Assembly of Pakistan, told Arab News that women in Iran who demand basic human rights “must be heard, respected and appreciated.”

“Pakistan has always supported women's rights and is proud to have had the first (Muslim) woman Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, who not only opened doors for women’s participation in politics, but also promoted women’s empowerment and women's rights,” she said, referring to Bhutto-Zardari’s mother. 

“A crackdown by the (Iranian) police is injustice. Inequality and discrimination in any society should be discouraged. The killing of hundreds of innocent protesters and arresting of thousands of people for raising their voice against oppression is inhuman.”