JINHA

NEWS CENTER –The city of Mahabad, Iran, located in the eastern part of Kurdistan, remains in a state of rebellion in the wake of the death of young Kurdish woman FerinazXosrawanî. According to news agency DİHA's interviews with local sources, the state of rebellion in Eastern Kurdistan for Ferinaz is unlikely to end soon.

In Iran, the memories of the state's October execution of ReyhanehJabbari are still fresh. The Iranian regime executed Reyhaneh, 26, for the 2007 killing of former Iranian intelligence officer MortezaAbdolaliSarbandi. She was attempting to defend herself from his rape when she killed him. Iran is known for the regime's harsh punishment of women for everything from being inadequately covered to organizing for a democratic society (for which many Kurdish youth have been imprisoned and executed). This week, when young Kurdish woman FerinazXosrawanîwas the next to fall victim to the state's rape culture, the people of Mahabad rose up.

Mahabad was once the capital of the Mahabad Republic, an autonomous Kurdish republic founded in 1946 that survived for eleven months until it was crushed by the Iranian army. Today, it is a city of 280,000. Ferinaz, 26, worked cleaning rooms at Mahabad's four-star Tara Hotel until she lost her life attempting to escape a rape attempt this week.

According to local sources, the hotel owner, Nadir Moludi, aimed to get a fifth star for the Tara. A Ministry of Intelligence official said the owner could get the fifth star by arranging a "rendezvous" with Ferinaz. On May 4, the owner locked Ferinaz into a hotel room on the fourth floor of the Tara with the intelligence officer. When Ferinaz understood what was going on, she attempted to climb from the fourth-floor balcony down to the third floor to escape the rape attempt, losing her life in the fall. The entire incident was recorded on hotel security cameras.

After Ferinaz's death, her family and the people of Mahabad called for the Iranian regime to investigate the incident and punish those responsible. They declared that they would continue protests as long as they did not receive an answer. The people took to the streets yesterday afternoonoutside the Tara Hotel, which had come to be known as "the regime's rape chamber."

After protests began, the regime arrested hotel manager SeyidMurtezaHashimi (originally from Tabriz), suspected of having a hand in the event, although locals say the arrest was for his own protection. The crowd entered the Tara, hurling furniture and objects out the windows of the hotel. Police attempted to squash the protests by attacking the people with live ammunition and tear gas.

As protests spread throughout the entirety of the city, the regime declared a state of emergency. Thousands of soldiers and police surrounded the city, where protests and clashes continued late into the night. At least two were killed and dozens more wounded and arrested. The people set fire to the Tara Hotel, took down regime flags and lit official cars and armored vehicles on fire.

According to the Campaign to Defend Political Prisoners, 50 were wounded in the clashes yesterday night, six of them police. One of the wounded civilians was AkamKelac, now in critical condition. Local sources alleged that higher-ups have called for the withdrawal of regime forces from the city.

Iranian officials remained silent on the Ferinaz affair until the hotel was set alight, at which point President Hassan Rouhani called for the incident to be investigated immediately.

Local sources say that the people of every city in Eastern Kurdistan have issued calls to take to the streets today. Kurdish guerrilla groups in Eastern Kurdistan have also called on the people of the region to stand up for Ferinaz, as have left and Kurdish political groups in Turkey and Europe.

(nt/cm)