French President Emmanuel Macron this Sunday praised the “struggle” of Iran’s Mahsa Amini, “murdered as a martyr” for not wearing a headscarf, and called for more “responsibility and action” in the fight for human rights.
“As often happens, the first victims of oppression are women and young girls,” Emmanuel Macron said in a video posted on his Twitter account, quoted by AFP news agency.
“If Mahsa Amini, killed as a martyr, has become a symbol for all of us today, she must be more than that,” said the French president, adding that the struggle requires “responsibility and action”.
La France est et restera une terre d’accueil pour les defences des droits de l’Homme. pic.twitter.com/JK5iLO06XA
Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) January 29, 2023
The President recalled that France will receive 14 winners of the “Marianne Initiative”, launched in 2021, one year after the death of young Amini, aged 22, who was arrested in Tehran by the moral police for violating of the strict dress code that requires women to wear a veil in public.
The “Marianne Initiative” aims to strengthen actions for human rights, honoring a group of activists from all over the world involved in the defense of human and social rights, but also in the protection of the environment.
Iran has been facing a wave of protests since the death of Mahsa Amini on September 16 last year.
The Marianne Initiative” gives “freedom fighters” access to a training program that gives them “new tools to pursue their commitment in their country or in France” for those seeking asylum, President Macron recalled.
“We want to help them carry out their projects, empower them, guide them so that these projects can prevail everywhere,” he added.
Members of the Class of 2023 include Iranian journalist Asal Maryam Abasian, 31, who fights in defense of women and the LGBTQI+ population, who fled Iran in 2021.
Russian lawyer Imanova Tamilla, 26, is another activist advising people arrested during the protests, who was also selected by a committee of human rights defenders, investigators and asylum experts.
The class also includes Colombian Elicer Arias Arias, 42, who has denounced enforced disappearances and extrajudicial violence in his country, as well as Virginia Estefania Roque Aguilar, 25, from El Salvador, who is involved in fighting pollution of waters and the rights of indigenous peoples.
Source: DN
