As a last challenge to religious authorities and obscurantism. Ten days after the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian woman killed by Iranian security forces for wearing a poorly worn headscarf, a new young woman named Hadis Najafi, only 20 years old, also lost her life in the course of a demonstration organized last Thursday in the city of Karaj, about twenty kilometers from the capital, Tehran.
Since this announcement, spread by various media outlets and activists but not yet confirmed by an official news agency, the last living images of Hadis Najafi have been widely shared on social media and have become a symbol of struggle for thousands of protesters. from all over the country, who have been mobilizing since the death of Mahsa Amini.
In this short video, the young woman, without a veil, puts her hair back with a determined air before heading towards the demonstration that will prove fatal to her a few minutes later.
big emotion
The death of Hadis Najafi was announced on Twitter by the journalist and activist Masih Alinejad, who reported that the young woman “was shot in the chest, face and neck by the security forces of the Islamic Republic.” The latter also published a video of the protester’s funeral in the presence of several members of her family.
On Instagram, the sister of the deceased published a heartbreaking message in which she speaks directly with the authorities of her country.
“You bastards shot him in the heart. Why was he shot in the neck, hand and forehead? How many bullets did they need to kill a girl who weighed only 40 kg?
In the same social network, the former President of the Republic François Hollande is also the reliever of this disappearance. “I support the Iranian men and women who fight courageously, sometimes to the death, to defend freedom and democracy,” he wrote.
a divided society
At the moment, in a country completely blocked by religious authorities, it is extremely difficult to obtain official confirmation of Hadis Najafi’s death. In more general terms, it is almost impossible to obtain a clear assessment of the victims of police repression since the beginning of the demonstrations.
The European Union judged on Sunday “unjustifiable and unacceptable” the “widespread and disproportionate use of force” against protesters that would have already killed 41 people, or even many more according to certain NGOs including Human Rights. The head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell, also asked Tehran to “clarify the number of deaths and detainees, to release all non-violent protesters.”
For their part, the Iranian authorities seem absolutely unwilling to loosen their grip on the company. In a speech this weekend, Mohammad Javad Haj Ali Abkari, the country’s former vice president, even issued a clear and fatal threat to the protesters.
“If he doesn’t stop his shameless crimes, he should expect a strong response from the Islamic establishment which has so far shown patience,” he warned.
Source: BFM TV
