The grave of Masha Aminithe young Iranian Kurd whose death sparked widespread protests against Iranian political and religious leaders, has been vandalized, according to activists and the family’s lawyer.
Aged 22, Masha Amini died in September 2022 after being arrested by the vice police of Tehran who accused her of having violated the strict dress code imposing on women, in particular the wearing of the veil in the Islamic Republic. Protests after his death challenged the Islamic system that has ruled Iran since the 1979 revolution.
“Let them break it a thousand times, we’ll fix it again”
The young woman, who had traveled to Tehran with her family, is buried in her hometown of Saqez, in Iran’s Kurdistan province, where activists say authorities are determined to prevent any public gatherings in her memory.
The France-based Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) said the grave, bearing her Kurdish name Zhina in large Persian letters, was attacked on the morning of May 21. Footage posted to social media, believed to come from her brother Ashkan’s Instagram account, showed the gl protecting a portrait of Amini on the headstone was shattered.
Ashkan Amini, Jina Amini’s brother shared a photo on his IG showing that unknown persons have broken the gl of his sister’s tombstone. #JinaAmini is the symbol of the current revolution in East Kurdistan and Iran. even her grave isn’t safe from those who killed her. pic.twitter.com/8Ydt48I95P
— Gordyaen B.Jermayi 🕎☀️ (@gordyyaeenn) May 21, 2023
“Unfortunately, on Sunday morning, people whom we already know and who have acted in the same way in the past, attacked the grave of Zhina Mahsa Amini,” family lawyer Saleh Nikbakht said in a statement published by KHRN. “So the gl of your tombstone bothers them too?” Let them break it a thousand times, we will restore it again, see who gets tired first,” Ashkan Amini wrote to him in his social media post.