JINHA

NEWS CENTER - Kurds in Iran have gone on a large general labor strike as regime forces continue their campaign of mass arrests around protest-hit Mahabad following Ferinaz Xosrawanî's death.

Ferinaz Xosrawanî was a 25-year-old graduate in computer science who worked at the Tara Hotel in the city of Mahabad, in Eastern Kurdistan. While trying to escape a rape attempt by an Iranian security officer, Ferinaz fell from a window. Her death spurred a popular uprising, in which the people of Mahabad lit fire to the Tara Hotel several days after Ferinaz's death.

Following nearly a week of unrest in Eastern Kurdistan, activists have called on all Kurdish civilians to begin a comprehensive strike in protest of the government's crackdown on demonstrations, which has included house raids and mass arrests in addition to police violence in the streets. "We call on all Kurdish citizens in the cities of Iranian Kurdistan to take part in a general strike starting on Thursday," read the statement, which according to Asharq Alawsat, also called on all Kurdish political and non-political organizations to support the civil action.

The protests against the death of Ferinaz started in the city of Mahabad more than a week ago and spread to a number of other cities, including Sanandaj, Bukan, Saqqez and Marivan. Iranian regime forces have been deployed in force to crush the protests, including blocking the roads between cities to prevent protestors from reaching governmental institutions. There have been at least 180 arrests related to the protests.

Regime forces used CCTV footage to identify demonstrators in the mass demonstrations. Then they inspected the footage to identify the participants, raided houses and arrested a large number of people in the towns of Mahabad, Bukan, Saradasht, Marivan and Oshnavieh.

(nt/cm)