ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - An alliance of major Iranian Kurdish opposition parties on Sunday called for a general strike across the Kurdish region in western Iran (Rojhelat) on September 16 to mark the fourth anniversary of the death of Kurdish woman Zhina (Mahsa) Amini after she was detained by Iran’s so-called morality police.
In a statement, the Coalition of Political Forces of Iranian Kurdistan urged the entire community “to carry out a nationwide and general strike on September 16, on the fourth anniversary of the crime of killing Zhina Amini, in opposition to the continued policies of the Islamic Republic.”
The coalition described the strikes as a way of “commemorating the memory of all those killed and the values of the ‘Jina – Woman, Life, Freedom’ revolution,” as well as a “civil action and a mass response to the security and economic crises.”
Amini, a 22 year old Kurdish woman from Saqqez in the Kurdistan province of Iran, was detained by Iran’s morality police in Tehran on September 13, 2022, over alleged violations of the country’s mandatory hijab rules. Three days later, she passed away in hospital while under police custody.
Soon after Amini’s death, nationwide protests erupted across Iran under the banner of “Woman, Life, Freedom,” with demonstrations spreading across the country and demands growing for women’s rights, equality and an end to discrimination. Iranian security forces responded with a crackdown that included lethal force and mass arrests.
Iran Human Rights has verified the deaths of 551 protesters, including 68 children and 49 women. In September 2023, a year after Amini’s death, at least 22 protesters, including four children and eight women, also died in what the group described as suspicious suicides.
In late December 2025, protests erupted across Iran, beginning at Tehran’s Grand Bazaar over worsening economic conditions and quickly spreading to cities across the country. Demonstrators later broadened their demands to include political grievances, while Iranian authorities responded with widespread arrests and a violent crackdown that continued into mid-January 2026.
During the protests across Iran, seven Iranian Kurdish political parties expressed their full support for the nationwide demonstrations against the Islamic Republic and condemned the authorities’ violent crackdown.
The coalition of Political Forces of Iranian Kurdistan is an alliance of five major Kurdish political parties formed in February 2026 to cooperate in their efforts against the Islamic Republic and support Kurdish political and national rights in Iran. The coalition supports Kurdish self-determination and a democratic, secular political system in Iran.
The coalition brings together five Kurdish parties: the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran (KDPI), the Free Life Party of Kurdistan (PJAK), the Kurdistan Freedom Party (PAK), the Komala of the Toilers of Kurdistan, and the Organization of Iranian Kurdistan Struggle (Khabat).
