Who will the screams of the Iranian girls be heard by?

The death of students at a school in southern Iran reignites the international debate on war, human rights and the limits of military actions

By Virginia Berriel*

The Ayatollahs’ regime has always oppressed women – there is no doubt about that. There were several complaints and requests for political asylum from women and intellectuals to other countries. Also due to the demonstrations over the arrest and death of Iranian Maysa Amine, aged 22. Arrested for refusing to wear the veil, she was hospitalized with signs of aggression and died in 2022 in Iran. Maysa became a symbol of the struggle for women’s liberation. This was a case of international repercussion, with many demonstrations in Iran against the political regime, for its restriction and oppression. The demonstrations lasted days and were seen around the world.

Political asylum cases grew even more from 2023 onwards, around 45% of requests for European countries. The requests involved intellectuals, activists, academics, journalists, artists, mainly those who opposed Ali Khamenei’s theocratic regime. The requests were always due to gender repression by the state; due to political persecution, due to the struggle in defense of freedom and due to cultural oppression, imposed by the regime that reduced fundamental freedoms, especially for women.

We all follow and also fight for the freedom of these women, notably for changes, especially in guaranteeing their rights. A change of regime, on the other hand, is something that has always been beyond possibilities and should have been treated with great caution by other countries, without ever wanting or advocating death, war, invasion, or the murder of more than 160 girls, such as what happened at the primary school, in the city of Minab, in the south of Iran. The attack on the girls’ basic school was coordinated by the United States and Israel, and took place on February 28th. According to press reports, the building was close to military installations. This, however, does not justify the attack by the governments of the United States and Israel, in a deliberate manner, the killing of 160 children, students, inside a school. A crime against humanity, human rights, that left the world perplexed and demonstrates once again the cowardice of the USA and Israel, which has no limits. They cannot criticize any political regime because they do not respect UN pacts. They violated sanctions and international law, they tore up the constitution of their countries from the moment they decided to wage war without appreciation and deliberation by the Congress of the United States and Israel. The monstrous, perverse and genocidal attack that killed more than 160 girls, also fatally injured their families and the dignity of an Islamic country, made up of so many ethnicities, but which knows how to live with differences, however difficult it may be to understand from that perspective. The United States and Israel have two beasts driving the destinies of Americans and Israelis. The majority of the population of both countries does not approve of the barbarity imposed by Trump and Natanyahu – they are against the attacks, therefore, they do not want war.

How can the president of a nation like the United States, supported by the genocidal leadership of Israel, invade another country, kill innocent girls and bomb the headquarters and Revolutionary Guard facilities, kill his political and religious leaders, Ali Khamenei, family members and several political members of Iran, with the poor, mistaken and lying argument about nuclear weapons?

How could Trump have done this in the midst of meetings with Iranian officials negotiating the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons and with a proposal on the table? This beast needs to be stopped and punished; now! He and Natanyahu need to answer for crimes against humanity, war crimes – but it cannot be in a process that drags on for a long time.

The world screams for peace

How long will the world swallow this false rhetoric about nuclear weapons? After all, the whole world knows that it is the United States that has the largest military arsenal in the world, followed by Russia, China, India, South and North Korea, the United Kingdom, France, Pakistan and Israel. After this order, Iran stands out in the Middle East, with a large arsenal of missiles and human contingent. Does Iran not have the right to guarantee its defense? Does Iran not have the right to retaliate against imposed attacks?

What it seems is that in this succession of absurdities, these two beasts, Trump and Nathanyahu, want to cause chaos and bury humanity in extreme barbarity. What is the difference between the monstrosities committed by Nazi leader Adolf Hitler and those committed by Trump and Nathanyhu? Certainly none. They seem much more monstrous and perverse, with power over humanity and their own existence. This is yet another war that should shine a light on the world, on the UN – which seems perplexed.

Heavy measures are needed to punish Trump and Natanyahu. Perplexity will not solve it. They need to be stopped, they can never be ignored. Natanyahu should have already been tried for the war crimes committed against thousands of children, women and the elderly in the Gaza Strip, Palestine. There is a river of blood that continues to run open wherever this monster passes. More than 70 thousand Palestinians were murdered.

If this didn’t shock the world, what else needs to happen? We are on the brink of a third world war, of overwhelming proportions, with social, economic and political impacts for the world, for all countries. However, this same world ignores the perversity of the United States and Israel.

Who heard the screams of the Iranian girls? Who will cry for them, for their bereaved family members? Is there no pain to be felt, cried and veiled? This is no time for countries to arm themselves or increase their atomic and war arsenals. This is a time for a struggle, a crusade for the search for peace in the world, which is still possible. But, in my opinion, we will only have peace if we can stop Natanyahu and Trump. They need to be contained and condemned.

Did the beast Trump think he would come in, kill, arrest and steal the oil like he did in Venezuela and that would be okay?

I asked a lot of questions, and maybe I even know the answers. But today, tomorrow, after and for a long time I know that I will cry. And I can only cry for the pain and death of the Iranian girls. The approximately 160 deaths of the girls need to be remembered forever – the only way to stop American and Israeli chaos, barbarity and greed.

The world is perplexed, scared and screams for PEACE. Cry, cry a lot for the girls.

Virginia Berriel
Member of MHuD Human Rights Movement
Ad-doc consultant to the Permanent Committee on the Rights to Work, Education and Social Security of the CNDH
Director of SinttelRio
President of the Union of Professional Journalists of the Municipality of Rio de Janeiro