NAZIHA BOUSSIDI

Tunisia- The ‘Jin, Jiyan, Azadi’ uprising that started in Iran and Rojhelat Kurdistan following the killing of 22-year-old Jina Mahsa Amini by Iran’s so-called “morality police” for not wearing her hijab properly in Iran’s capital Tehran, continues.

“The killing of Jina Mahsa Amini ignited an uprising not only in Iran but also around the world,” said Najat Arar, Tunisian women’s rights defender, activist and sociologist.

‘Hijab is used as a tool to control women’

Pointing the oppression faced by women in Iran for years, Najat Arar said, “The Iranian regime has been using all kinds of inhuman practices, such as execution, arrest, torture, to quell the protests for about a year.” In the interview with NuJINHA, she also talked about the compulsory hijab rule.

“Hijab is used as a tool to control women’s behaviors and bodies. You can see this in Afghanistan. Afghan women participated in decision-making after struggling for 20 years. However, their achievements were taken from them after the Taliban took control of the country. Hijab is used as a tool in Iran. Iranian women should keep struggling because women’s struggle is the key to change societies.”

Indicating that although Tunisian women have taken some of their rights, Najat Arar said, “They keep struggling for rights and freedoms. What difference between Tunisia and other countries is the women’s lasting struggle for their rights and that NGOs are stronger and work coordinately with each other. Therefore, I call on the women of Iran and Rojhelat Kurdistan to keep struggling.”