Jin, Jiyan, Azadi - Women as the Backbone of Iran's Freedom Movement

The killing of Jina Mahsa Amini on 16 September 2022 triggered a new nationwide wave of protests in Iran. Under the Kurdish slogan "Jin, Jiyan, Azadi" ("Woman, Life, Freedom"), people of all genders, ages and social backgrounds took to the streets. The protests built on a long history of resistance against the Iranian regime while giving it new social breadth and visibility.

In 2026, the regime's repression reached a new and tragic peak. In January, thousands of people were killed by the regime during the nationwide protests. Mass arrests, an unprecedented internet shutdown, enforced disappearances, sham trials and politically motivated executions followed.

While media coverage over the past weeks and months has focused mainly on geopolitical and economic developments as well as the state level, a crucial dimension has been overlooked: Iranian society itself, and above all the women who have shaped the freedom movement for decades.

With this event, together with experts, we want to focus on exactly this perspective: Who are the women who carry Iran's freedom movement? What strategies, networks and forms of resistance have developed since 2022? What is the situation of female political prisoners in Iran? What role do women play inside the prisons and in the resistance against repression? And what can the international community do to support political prisoners and make their voices heard?

Ort: To be announced.