A True Teacher Who Taught the Lesson of Sacrifice
Minoo Majidi, a Kurdish woman from the Yarsan religious minority, was born on July 11, 1960, in Qasr-e Shirin, a city in western Iran near the border with Iraq. She lived in Kermanshah, another city in western Iran, and was a devoted wife, mother of three children—two daughters and a son—and a respected teacher.
After the Iranian clerical regime took power following the 1979 revolution, Majidi, like many others, faced persecution. She was dismissed from her teaching position during the so-called “Cultural Revolution,” a purge led by the regime aimed at eliminating dissidents and non-conformists from schools and universities. Despite this injustice, Minoo didn’t give up on helping others. In the 1990s, she began volunteering as a table tennis coach for deaf and hard-of-hearing students, showing her continued commitment to education and inclusivity.
On September 16, 2022, Mahsa Amini, a young Kurdish woman, died in the custody of Iran’s Morality Police—an event that ignited a wave of anti-government protests across the country. The city of Kermanshah, where Majidi lived, was also swept up in these protests, with people calling for an end to the oppressive Iranian regime.
Just a few days later, on September 20, 2022, Minoo Majidi attended one of these protests in Kermanshah. Before she left her home, she told her family: “If I don’t go to protest, who will?” Her words reflected her deep sense of responsibility and courage, values she had taught her children and students throughout her life.
At approximately 7:45-8:00 p.m., while standing in the protests on Second Thirty-Meter Street, near the entrance of Vahdat Boulevard in Kermanshah, Minoo was shot in the head by Iranian security forces. The bullet was fired directly at her, and she died on the way to the hospital.
The following day, the prosecutor of Kermanshah made a false claim, stating that Minoo Majidi had been killed by “anti-revolutionary elements” using “non-governmental weapons,” in an attempt to shift the blame for her death away from the regime.
Initially, the security forces refused to hand over Minoo’s body to her family, a common tactic used to prevent mourning from turning into political protests. But eventually, under pressure, they were forced to return her body. On Thursday, September 22, 2022, her funeral took place at 10 a.m. in the Minaabad Cemetery in Kermanshah.
What should have been a sad farewell became a powerful act of defiance. As mourners gathered to lay her to rest, the funeral turned into a protest, with grieving attendees chanting slogans against the regime. In her death, as in her life, Minoo Majidi inspired others to stand up against injustice.
Minoo Majidi was not only a mother, wife, and teacher; she was a symbol of resilience and bravery. Her life tragically cut short at the age of 62, was a testament to her unyielding spirit and her belief in a better future for the people of Iran. She fought for freedom and sacrificed her life in the hope that her children, and all Iranians, could live in a country free from oppression.
