ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A large number of shop owners in the Kurdish city of Saqqez, western Iran (Rojhelat), went on strike on Tuesday, closing their stores for a day in protest of Iranian authorities arresting family members of demonstrators and plans to make deliberate changes to the cemetery where Zhina (Mahsa) Amini has been laid to rest.
Activist groups the day before called on the people of Saqqez to participate in peaceful demonstration by closing their shops, to protest the arrest of family members of the Sanandaj, Divandarreh, and Dehgolan protesters who were killed during September’s nationwide protests.
Dozens of family members in the three cities were arrested by Iranian security forces while visiting cemeteries holding the bodies of the protesters, according to Hengaw Human Rights Organization.
Marketers Saqqez to protest the arrest of the families of the victims of Kurdistan resistance, as well as the purposeful alteration of the Aichi cemetery to remove the grave of #Jina_Amini on sight went on strikes.
— Hengaw Organization for Human Rights (@Hengaw_English) June 13, 2023
Tuesday, June 13, 2023#Kurdistan https://t.co/Uy9wMkqh1S
People of Saqqez had also recently reported that the city’s municipality had been making moves to enclose Amini’s shrine in Aichi cemetery and make it less visible and less accessible to the public. The shrine has been desecrated by unidentified assailants repeatedly in recent months.
Aichi cemetery acts as the final resting place for many of last year’s protesters who lost their lives during the demonstrations, including Amini, who became the symbol of the struggle after her death ignited Iran’s longest protest movement in the past four decades.
Large numbers of security forces were deployed to the streets of Saqqez in preparation of the demonstrations. The people of the city had planned to gather in front of the municipality but were prohibited by the security forces, according to Hengaw.
Similar strikes were also practiced in parts of Sanandaj.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and its paramilitary Basij led a violent crackdown against the protesters, killing hundreds of people and wounding thousands others. The protests have been quietened, but Iran's crackdown was harshly condemned by the international community.
