The death of the young Iranian Kurdish woman Jina Mahsa Amini
triggered an unprecedented wave of protests in Iran.
She was arrested by the “morality police” in Tehran in September 2022
for allegedly wearing a poorly fitting veil.
The uprising shook the regime, which responded with violent repression.
To escape the repression, many Iranian Kurds
have fled to the autonomous Kurdish region of Iraq.
A passage through the Zagros Mountains,
in view of the Iranian border towers,
is a common escape route for the Kurds who’ve fled to Iraq in recent years
around 10,000 according to Germany’s UN Refugee Aid.
The situation at the border is very tense.
While filming the Iranian control towers,
we were briefly arrested and interrogated by the secret service
of the Kurdish authorities in northern Iraq.
On September 19th 2023, a deadline set by Iran expired.
It stated that by this date,
the Iraqi government and the Kurdish authorities in Iraq
must disarm the Iranian-Kurdish opposition groups
and transfer them to locations far from the border with Iran.
These groups include the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan, the DPKI.
Every year, dozens of young people join the party's military forces,
the Peshmerga.
The young Kurds undergo tough military training.
Since the violent protests,
the Iranian regime has felt even more threatened by this resistance group.
We met a group of Peshmerga living in the mountains in a secret DPKI camp.
They hide here from possible missile and drone attacks from Iran.
Among them is Farzana.
She’s been here for four years and serves as a kind of role model
for new young female fighters.
19-year-old Rojina only left Iran a few months ago.
The bloody demonstrations in the fall of 2022 left a deep impression on her.
She still has the footage on her phone.
We took this photo during a visit to the cemetery
of the martyr Shaho Xizri.
The people pictured here were all tortured during the Jina Revolution.
I lost many friends at the rallies in the Kurdish regions of Iran.
One of my best friends fell as a martyr.
At the time, I was afraid that they would arrest and torture me.
Because of my gender and my beliefs.
But I wasn't afraid of death.
It's true that we’re far away from our families and our sisters.
But here we’re all very close to each other: we sleep and eat together.
We do everything together.
This solidarity helps us to live.
My family suspected that I would leave one day.
But I didn't tell them when.
One day, when they were asleep, I looked at them and left.
I wanted to become a Peshmerga.
With the duty to protect my people and my country.
We passed by here a few days ago on the way back to the base.
I led the way at the front.
The phrase "Woman, life, freedom" originated in Kurdistan.
It spread from the Kurdish regions to the cities of Iran
and then all over the world.
These words show that women can make a difference.
None of this would have been possible without women.
Many Iranian women risked their lives in the protests,
which the regime suppressed with armed force.
Women cutting off their hair, as seen here at the funeral of those killed,
became a symbol of women's rights, and protest against the oppressive regime.
I’d love to have hair like yours.
The Kurdish Peshmerga in Iran are being trained to fight as soldiers
against attacks by the Islamic Republic.
That’s despite Tehran’s ultimatum that
by September 2023, the Iraqi government in Baghdad
and the Kurdish authorities in northern Iraq should completely disarm
the opposition groups and move them far away from its border.
Driven into a corner like this,
the only option for the DPKI forces was to retreat into the mountains.
Since then, they’ve been hiding from Iranian surveillance in small groups.
Most of them have no news of their family and were not there
for the protests that shook Iran.
Unlike Rojina, who witnessed them first hand.
Tell us about the oppression during the protests.
They attacked the demonstrators with extreme brutality.
I saw my friend Azad fall as a martyr on a rainy night.
So many people were injured.
As an exception, Rojina and her comrades
put down their weapons tonight.
When they sit together, their conversations often revolve
what’s happening in their home country.
What happened to Jina was the trigger
It drove people onto the streets,
where they unleashed their anger against the regime.
Unfortunately, there are people who believe
that this revolution is only about the way we dress
But it's about much more, it's about freedom of expression, our rights.
The rights of the Kurds.
With everything I’ve experienced,
I think that from now on women will fight all injustices
and will no longer remain silent.
The Kurds live in constant fear of renewed attacks by Iran.
At the end of 2022, dozens of Iranian missiles
kamikaze drones hit the DPKI bases.
Civilian refugee camps were also hit.
Dozens of people died.
In the Azadi camp, not far from the town of Koysinjaq,
traces of the Iranian attacks can still be seen.
29-year-old Zanyar is a former Peshmerga.
On September 28th, 2022, he was seriously injured by a missile.
His wife died. She was eight months pregnant.
The missile hit just a few meters away from me.
A woman who was next to me was killed.
I was thrown really far.
When I came to, I immediately thought of my wife.
I got up to run to her.
I wanted to know if she’d been hurt, I wanted to help her.
Zanyar found his wife in front of their house,
her stomach and back riddled with shrapnel.
She held my hand and said "Zanyar".
Then she lost consciousness.
This is the result of the Iranian regime's missile strikes,
which hit 150 meters away from here.
Our baby was in her womb.
The baby was born in hospital with lung injuries and didn’t survive.
Every day, a friend comes by to keep Zanyar company.
Weakened by his physical and mental trauma, he tries to carry on living.
All he has left of his deceased wife are memories.
I have to go back to the doctor the day after tomorrow.
I'm having a second operation.
I have such a bad headache.
I'd like to go to her grave this afternoon.
The constant threats from the Iranian government
and the growing pressure on the Kurdish troops
are of great concern to them.
I'd rather stay in the camp than go out,
where the Iranian regime could murder me at any moment.
Several party members were recently murdered near their homes.
DPKI says Iranian agents are behind this.
In Erbil, the capital of the autonomous
Kurdish region in northern Iraq,
the growing influence of Iran can be felt.
The future of the autonomous region seems uncertain.
The Iranian ultimatum to disarm the opposition groups
has amplified the tension among the Peshmerga.
Entrenched in remote locations, they observe every movement in the sky.
21-year-old Evin took up arms four years ago.
She and her unit change their location every day to avoid being targeted
by air strikes from the Iranian regime.
I've slept there under the rocks.
I spent the night here.
But there’s always too much sun in the morning.
Should we take the blankets with us?
The isolation and lack of means within the group make logistics difficult
A comrade has announced his arrival.
Hello, how are you? We're waiting for you.
Have you brought the material we were waiting for?
The Peshmerga are fighting for the survival of their party in exile.
The DPKI is popular among Kurds in Iran, but has only limited resources.
Still, there’s enough to supply its fighters.
Despite having no heavy weapons, Evin and her comrades
are trying to arm themselves against possible ground attacks.
I crossed the border illegally because I want to fight for freedom
and the rights of the people.
One day around midnight, I left home.
I remember my father lying by the stove, drinking tea and watching TV.
My mother and sister were sitting with him.
That’s my last image of them.
Evin is very worried.
As an armed member of the opposition,
she’s endangering the lives of her relatives in Iran.
She tries to find out about the situation in her country
via the opposition TV channel "Iran International" in London.
As party members, our communication has to be very minimal.
The phones and WhatsApp messages of our relatives
in Iran are being tapped.
If you contact them, they’ll get into trouble.
Women and men living together in the mountains
is a symbol of equality that does not exist in Iran.
Here, men and women are equal in all areas.
Solidarity has a high value, regardless of gender
And everyone enjoys the same respect.
Geographically, Kurdistan is centrally located in the Middle East,
surrounded by Iran, Turkey, Iraq and Syria.
That’s why our people are spread across these countries.
The countries plunder our resources and wage war on our territory.
Our fight will continue until we win our rights.
The most important thing is our fight for humanity and our dignity.
There are many camps around Erbil with refugees from the Kurdish regions
of neighboring Iran.
Some have existed for decades.
The Jeznikan camp holds civilian sympathizers of the DPKI.
Along with the threat of Iranian air strikes,
there’s a constant fear of oppression against their families in Iran.
Ali, a 52-year-old cleric, fled Iran several years ago.
For his sermons against the regime,
he was punished with 200 lashes and imprisonment.
He was able to escape.
This is a refugee camp for Kurds from Iran.
Around 500 people live here.
I’m responsible for mediating between the families.
Most of them were persecuted
or tortured by the Islamic Republic of Iran.
This clearly shows the whole world that the Islamic Republic of Iran
is a barbaric regime.
It violates all basic rights.
If someone from the camp calls his family
and the Islamic regime finds out about it,
the relative can be arrested and punished in Iran.
I don't know if my son had any contact with political organizations,
but after a phone call with me, he was arrested.
He got five years in prison.
He was released after three years.
The people here have largely organized their own lives in the camp.
There’s even a small infirmary.
How are things today? +++
We have a lot of patients coming by, like every day.
Do we lack medication?
Yes, some have run out.
Thank you very much.
Ali's role is crucial for solidarity in the camp.
He pays regular visits to the families living here.
Maria, hello.
How's it going?
Can I come in?
What’s the situation like for you
Didn't you want to leave the camp after the Iranian threats?
We don't know where to go.
Are you scared? What are you planning to do?
I don’t sleep at night.
Why?
So that I’m ready to protect my children.
The Iranian regime tortured my father to death in prison.
We had just celebrated a wedding with lots of guests.
My father was denounced as a political activist.
That's when the Iranian regime attacked us.
Guests were injured while dancing.
One of my brothers was killed.
Another is now disabled.
The people in the camp suffer from their status as refugees.
They feel tolerated by the autonomous Kurdish government in Iraq,
but nothing more.
Ali prays with some of the residents, as evening falls.
Conversations about life in the camp
mingle with discussions about politics.
It’s at mealtimes that Ali and the other residents
most deeply miss their relatives who stayed in Iran.
Have you been able to reach the family recently?
No, it's impossible to reach them.
They’re too afraid to answer.
These are the rallies in Saqqez.
During the Jina Revolution.
When the first Iranian missiles hit the refugee camp
near Koysinjaq in September 2022, the staff at the UN-run school
were able to evacuate the children at the last moment.
Five minutes later, a missile also hit the school.
The school my son was supposed to attend was destroyed.
The Islamic Republic of Iran doesn’t even stop at children.
My dream was to live in peace. With my wife and my son.
Watching him go to school with other children.
I had to leave Iran because of my political activities.
I dreamed of a free and democratic Kurdistan
where Tehran's regime had no say.
Most of the people who became victims of the Iranian regime
and their bombs lie in these graves.
The last time I saw my wife was in the mortuary.
The only photo I was able to take of my son
was when they took him away for the burial.
All my dreams were destroyed.
I still can't believe she's gone.
Despite all the risks for themselves and their relatives in Iran,
these men and women are not giving up.
They will continue to fight against the regime, each in their own way.
The threats from Iran are compounded by the almost daily attacks
by the Turkish army in the region.
They also persecute Kurdish opposition groups.
I hope we win.
I think things will look very different in Iran in ten years' time.
It will be very difficult and there’s a lot of pressure.
But if the women stay active, I'm sure we'll win.
Every evening, Evin and her unit look for a safe place for the night.
According to a Kurdish proverb, the Kurds' only allies are the mountains.
To this day, Kurdish people are coming together,
and fighting for their freedom.