"Our admiration is boundless for these women."
The mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo has offered honorary citizenship of the capital to Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian Kurd, whose death sparked an uprising in Iran.
“All the democracies in the world must be the spokespersons for the struggle of Iranian women.
With us behind them, they will be stronger, ”said the elected socialist Thursday evening during the unveiling, on the forecourt of City Hall, of a portrait of the young woman who died in Tehran three days after her arrest.
Paris will always carry the voice of Iranian women because they have the right to life and freedom.
I will offer honorary citizenship of Paris to #MahsaAmini, posthumously and through her to Iranian women who fight at the risk of their lives.#IranProtests2022 pic.twitter.com/cseWPO51Nm
— Anne Hidalgo (@Anne_Hidalgo) October 6, 2022
"Our admiration is infinite for these women, Paris will always be on the side of those who fight for their rights and their freedom", assured the mayor of the capital.
A few moments earlier, the former presidential candidate had cut a lock of hair, taking up one of the symbols of the ongoing uprising in Iran.
On Wednesday, a series of French actresses and singers had also made this gesture in a video.
Read also“Each took scissors in conscience”: behind the scenes of the video of support from French artists to Iranian women
At the next Council of Paris, which begins on Tuesday, the Parisian executive will propose the awarding of honorary citizenship of the City posthumously to Mahsa Amini, "and through her to all Iranian women", indicated First Deputy Emmanuel Grégoire during a press briefing.
The municipal executive will also propose that a place in the public space bears his name, he added.
Since 2001, the City of Paris has awarded its honorary citizenship to some thirty personalities committed to the defense of freedoms in the world.
Two Iranian lawyers, Shirin Ebadi and Nasrin Sotoudeh, have already received this distinction in 2010 and 2019, recalled Anne Hidalgo.
VIDEO.
Demonstration of support in Paris: "We are the voice of Iranian women"
In March, Paris had granted this distinction to the city of kyiv in the grip of Russian bombardments.
Its mayor Vitali Klitschko will also be present on Tuesday at the opening of the Paris Council, said Emmanuel Grégoire.
Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian Kurd, died on September 16, three days after her arrest for violating the Islamic Republic's strict dress code, which notably requires women to wear the veil.
Her death sparked a wave of protests in Iran, which were violently suppressed, and rallies in solidarity with Iranian women around the world.
