On the 2nd death anniversary of Mahsa Amini, hundreds of people gathered in Paris in a march of solidarity for the cause of women rights in Iran. After the 22 year old Iranian woman was arrested in 2022, she died in custody shortly after the arrest. Amini was arrested for allegedly violating the Islamic Republic’s strict dress code for women.
Amini’s death sparked a mass protest against the the country’s religious authorities. The Paris march, organized by around 20 human rights associations, took place as 34 women began a hunger strike in a Tehran prison to mark the two-year anniversary of her death.
“We’ve gone from an absolutely patriarchal culture, where there was no question of women being able to reveal themselves in the street, to massive support for these women,”
-Chirinne Ardakani, a Franco-Iranian lawyer and member of the “Iran Justice”
The march was attended by Benjamin Briere and Louis Arnaud, two Frenchmen who were arrested and arbitrarily detained in Iran. Briere was eventually released in May 2023, while Arnaud was let go the month after.
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Yes, I was in prison, but it is an immense honor to have been able to live among you, freedom fighters, who shared my suffering,
Arnaud told the crowd, in his first public address since his release.
The protest in 2022 was crushed by the Iranian authorities after days of violent struggle with the protesters. According to Human Rights Watch, at least 551 people lost their lives during the protest in 2022.
United Nations reported that thousands more were arrested.
