A MUST READ: NCRI Women’s Committee’s Annual Report 2024
On the eve of the International Women’s Day, the NCRI Women’s Committee publishes its Annual Report 2024, reviewing the events of the past year from March 2023 to March 2024, as regards the struggle of women in Iran for freedom, democracy, and equality.
Around this time last year, the world marveled at the extraordinary courage and resilience of Iranian women standing against the oppressive forces of Iran’s ruling religious dictatorship. What distinguished this year was the even greater courage and heightened resilience demonstrated by Iranian women in the face of the intensified oppression imposed by the clerical regime.
The Annual Report 2024 of the NCRI Women’s Committee aims to highlight the remarkable reality that compared to the previous year, Iranian women faced even harsher conditions. Despite the regime’s deployment of repressive forces, abundant resources, and misogynistic laws, they maintained their resistance, entering a more challenging phase.
The cover of this annual report features Armita Geravand, a courageous young girl who fearlessly defied the compulsory Hijab. By her resistance against the Hijab Patrols, she bravely challenged the entire regime, ultimately paying the ultimate cost—her life.
Female university students confronted security forces on their campuses, prompting the regime to deploy masked security forces and confiscate their student IDs. In the months leading up to the anniversary of the uprising in September, despite the earlier crackdown on society, 600 women in Tehran alone were arrested for taking to the streets.
In Rasht, brave women marched through the streets chanting “death to the child-killing regime.”
Bereaved mothers sought justice for their fallen children, transforming the solemn occasions of their memorials into opportunities for resistance. Dozens faced arrest and incarceration, illustrating another poignant chapter of bravery and defiance against the regime. They paid a heavy price for their actions.
Female political prisoners displayed scenes of remarkable resistance and bravery, even in chains. The regime, desperate to quell their defiance, resorted to attacking and firing upon them. However, this only underscored the resilience and high spirits of these political prisoners, whose message transcended prison walls, inspiring not just women and girls but all Iranian youths in cities and villages.
One such resilient prisoner, Maryam Akbari Monfared, serving the last year of her 15-year sentence without a single day off, received an additional three-year sentence for her continued resistance. The regime seeks to keep her incarcerated, fearing the influence of such a resilient and inspiring woman on society.
Massoumeh Senobari, accused of leading protests, has endured over a year in solitary confinement, isolated from other inmates. Another political prisoner, Zeinab Jalalian, remains in internal exile in the Yazd Prison. She has already started the 17th year of her life sentence.
A striking phenomenon is the increasing participation of women and girls from the Resistance Units in cities, conducting anti-repression operations despite the regime’s crackdown and the severe punishment if caught.
These emerging pockets of resistance organize the spirit of perseverance among women and youth, challenging all forms of the regime’s suppression. They have assumed leadership in the struggle against the dictatorship, aspiring to achieve freedom and establish a democratic, pluralistic republic based on the separation of religion and state.
With such a notable presence and a willingness to shoulder responsibility, the struggle of Iranian women has evolved into a new phase, leading the charge in uprisings against the regime’s overthrow.
As emphasized by Maryam Rajavi, there exists an immense, untapped power within women capable of steering the world toward freedom and equality when engaged in a resolute struggle. This transformative force is unfolding in Iran today.
The indomitable women of Iran persist in their fight for freedom. In the Annual Report 2024, our endeavor is to vividly portray the scenes of Iranian women’s resistance and their collective endeavors to counter the regime’s relentless attempts to extinguish the flames of the uprising amid appalling repression.
