Cancelled the flight and decided to stay and help fighting for human rights

Iranians are now fighting a historical fight for human rights in the wake of the murder of the Iranian woman Mahsa Amini after she was arrested by the notorious “morality police” on September 13 ^th, for not wearing her hijab correctly and showing too much of her face. Lenya Rún Taha Karim, a deputy member of Parliament for the Pirate Party, has decided to stay on in Kurdistan, but she has been staying there for a few days with her family and friends.

“The young woman who was murdered was a Kurd and Iranian Kurds started the protests after her murder,” says Karim to mbl.is. She had a scheduled flight back to Iceland yesterday morning, but decided to stay longer because of the protests.

Has heard from aquintances who have lost all internet connection

“The fight for human rights in one place, is a fight for human rights everywhere,” she says.

She has been getting a lot of messages from Kurds in Iran who describe a horrible situation and they are calling for those who can to assist them.

“The internet has been taken in many towns and cities, where the protests are most prominent andclose to two hundred protesters have been killed by the authorities. I feel I am obliged to talk about what is being done to the people here. Kurds are also my people and they need help,” Karim says, but she is born in Iceland, but her roots are in Iran. Both her parents are from the Iranian part of Kurdistan and she lived there during the years 2013-2016.

“We all need to take a hard stand against human rights violations”

Iranians have been protesting all over Iran after the 22 year old Masha Amimi died in police custody, after being arrested for not wearing her hijab correctly.

“What the Iranian authorities are doing is a great burden on the people in the country, and women in particular. We all need to take a hard stand against human rights violations, wherever they take place, and now when I am this close to where this all is happening, there was not a question in my mind that I had to stay and do my best to assist in the fight.”