Mehrdad Bahre-mand

A young Iranian woman commits suicide

The report was very short, but it buzzed everywhere. A young Iranian woman threw herself off a bridge in Tehran. The image you are seeing is related to this tragic incident. That is why I am writing this piece for her, in memory of all the young women and girls in Iran that are left with no choice but to commit suicide because of the ayatollahs’ cruelty and crackdown. Those who dare to raise their voice, like Reyhaneh Jabbari, are executed for killing a state agent in self-defense. A state agent that intended to rape her, and she bravely resisted and said no and defended her dignity with her life. Or Farinaz Khosravani, another young Iranian woman who threw herself off a hotel to escape an intelligence agent’s aggression.

On that day the young woman in Tehran was standing on the bridge and she could see the people. She could hear their voices, but she was too tired. Not from work, no! She was tired of life under the discrimination and cruelty imposed on women by the dictators ruling Iran. It had become unbearable for her and she was left with no choice but to bring an end to her miseries… She was thinking maybe with her life ending, the lives of thousands of Iranian women will begin in the Iran of tomorrow.

A question comes to mind: how many such women actually exist in Iran? Where is the solution to all this pain? Through all these years I have always thought about this and finally reached a conclusion: we must stand against the ayatollahs ruling Iran.

Then another question comes to mind: Is there anyone raising their voice against this regime? In what form or organization?

Each year it truly gives me hope when I see young Iranian women in the annual gathering held by the Iranian Resistance in Paris, and how they cry for freedom with such enthusiasm. Then I see Iranian opposition leader Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, as the anti-thesis to fundamentalism in Iran, as the President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran and as a woman, leading this movement. She is the hope of establishing freedom and democracy in Iran. That is when I decide that one must take part in this rally with all Iranians and freedom activists from across the globe. One must join them and be the voice of the oppressed people in Iran; the same Iranian women and girls under the ayatollahs crackdown. They are the force of change that will overthrow this fundamentalism regime in the near future. Thus, we must join Maryam Rajavi in her call for freedom and democracy, and we can and we must, through solidarity and perseverance against the ayatollahs, evict them not only from Iran, but the entire Middle East.