Bethnahrin Women’s Union condemns killing of women by Iran and Azerbaijan

BETH NAHRIN — The Bethnahrin Women’s Union (Huyodo d’Neshe d’Bethnahrin, HNB) released a statement denouncing both the killing of Kurdish Iranian Mahsa Amini by the so-called “morality police” in Iran and the mutilation of the body of Armenian soldier Anush Apetian by member of the Azerbaijani military.

In the statement, the HNB said that two crimes are different expressions of the same patriarchal mindset that seeks to repress women and subject them to violence.

The 37-year old Anush was a fighter in the ranks of the Armenian Army, defending her homeland from the current Azeri invasion when she was taken captive. She was reportedly assaulted and beaten before being murdered and her limbs dismembered. Video taken by Azeri soldier of Anush’s body, her dismembered fingers put in her mouth, was posted to social media.

Mahsa, 22-years-old, died in the hospital after being beaten by Iran’s “morality police” for not properly wearing her headscarf. Protests against the government sparked by her death have intensified in recent days. Many Iranian women cut their hair and burned their headscarves during the protests.

The HNB voiced its solidarity with all oppressed women and called for more to be done to ensure their equality and prevent the violence against them.