Erbil and Mahabad, Iran -- On Sunday, and for the fourth day in a row, violent protests rocked the Kurdish-majority city of Mahabad in northwestern Iran, after the death on Thursday of a 25-year-old woman whom sources say died after an Iranian intelligence operative attempted to rape her.
| Hard boy thought he could take what he wanted, eh? |
Violent clashes broke out between the protesters and Iranian security services as the demonstrators set fire to the Tara hotel where the young woman, Farinaz Khosrawani, worked, as well as other buildings, according to Kurdish news website Rudaw.
Reports allege an Iranian intelligence operative attempted to rape Khosrawani in his hotel room. She tried to flee and then either fell from the balcony of the hotel by accident or jumped deliberately to commit suicide, depending on differing accounts.
| Or was thrown from the balcony by the hard boy... |
The protests have now spread to other cities in the country with large Kurdish populations, Hussein Yazdanpanah, the secretary-general of the Kurdistan Freedom Party (KFP), a Kurdish–Iranian opposition group based in Iraqi Kurdistan, told Asharq Al-Awsat on Sunday. |