Ismail left Iran five years ago because he did not want to live in a country where women are not free. This Saturday he took to the streets of Lisbon along with dozens of other Iranians, in a march in support of the people of their country.
“We are here to support our Iranian people who have been on the streets for more than eight weeks in a country that is killing children and students and where they cannot live in freedom,” Justified, in statements to the Lusa agency, Ismail, an Iranian resident in Portugal and who said “present” in a march that took place between Praça do Comércio and Restauradores, in Lisbon, which brought together men and women who shouted “freedom”.
Iran has been rocked by a wave of protests since the death on September 16 of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian Kurdish woman, arrested three days earlier by morality police for allegedly violating the Islamic Republic’s strict dress code.
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At least 342 people died in the repression of the protests, according to the Oslo-based Iranian NGO for Human Rights (ICT). Denouncing “riots” orchestrated by foreign forces, the authorities launched an offensive and detained more than 15,000 protesters, according to an NGO, several of whom were sentenced to death.
The march that took place this Saturday in Lisbon is part of an initiative to support “the current revolution in that country”, which took place simultaneously in 25 countries, including Portugal, marking the Iranian protest, as well as the memory of the more than 3,000 people killed in other protests in 2019.
In Portugal, the initiative is promoted by the group of Iranian residents and the opening speech of the protest, in Praça do Comércio, was given by the ambassador of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), Catarina Furtado, who also accompanied the march.
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“The fire and the desire for women’s freedom had never been extinguished, but it was rekindled with the death of Masha Amini,” said Catarina Furtado. in a speech in which he warned about attacks on human rights in Iran, considering that the situation is one step away from genocide in a country with a dictatorship that misrepresents religion to commit atrocities.
Catarina Furtado said that this is not a political issue, but one of human rights and the most violated rights in the world, the rights of women.
The reports coming from the prisons speak of violence, torture and rape. There are girls who are being raped before being executed,” she said.
Along the route between Praça do Comércio and Restauradores, dozens of protesters, including some Portuguese who joined, carried signs calling for the freedom of Iran and chanting the phrase “woman, life, freedom”.
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The protesters also call on the international community to act against the violations committed against women and the entire Iranian people and for the release of political prisoners. In recent weeks, the funerals of protesters killed in the crackdown have often led to demonstrations denouncing the death of Mahsa Amini.
While marches were taking place in 25 countries (Portugal, the United States, the United Kingdom, Spain, Germany, France, Japan, Australia, among others) at least three protesters were killed in Iran by Iranian security forces in the northwest of the country during the protests. .
Source: Observadora
