October 17, 2023
City Council
DATE: October 17, 2023
TO: Mayor Martinez and Members of the City Council
FROM:
Vice Mayor McLaughlin and Councilmember Bana
Subject:
Proclaim September 16, 2023, retroactively, as Masha
Amini Day
FINANCIAL IMPACT: N/A
PREVIOUS COUNCIL
ACTION:
N/A
STATEMENT OF THE
ISSUE:
The City of Richmond honors Masha Amini’s life and
condemns her unjust killing. The City of Richmond stands in solidarity with Iranian men, women and girls who are fighting for their basic human rights.
RECOMMENDED ACTION:
Proclamation to proclaim (retroactively) September 16,
2023, as Masha Amini Day - Vice Mayor Gayle
McLaughlin (510-620-6636) and Councilmember Soheila
Bana (510-620-6743).
DISCUSSION:
On September 16, 2022, Masha Amini died after being detained for three days in the Iranian Regime’s morality police custody, who enforces a mandatory dress code for women in Iran, because her hair was partially showing under her hijab. The women who AGENDA
REPORT
October 17, 2023
were detained with Masha reported that she was beaten and died as a result of police brutality, however, the police force claimed that Masha Amini died from a heart attack at the police station even though there were visible bruises on Masha’s head and throughout Masha’s body.
Masha Amini’s death resulted in an uproar of protest around the US and other countries for the past year and were led by women and girls who seek freedom and demand basic human rights, uniting all Iranians across all ethnicities, religious, and economic backgrounds. Protestors chanted “Woman, Life, Freedom”, a Kurdish slogan that started from the Kurdish women’s movement in response to persecution. Masha’s Kurdish name, Jina, means life. Protestors emphasized her name’s meaning in connection with the “Women, Life, Freedom” slogan. Women and girls chanted this slogan and removed their mandatory hijabs at her funeral and continued to chant this slogan and cut their hair while protesting to fight against gender-based discrimination in Iran.
The City of Richmond acknowledges and stands in solidarity with the Woman, Life, Freedom movement, and honors Masha Amini’s legacy through this movement.
Woman, Life, Freedom!
DOCUMENTS ATTACHED:
Attachment 1 – Masha Amini Proclamation