ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – Iranian authorities have detained shop owners and closed their businesses after they allegedly participated in a general strike marking the fourth anniversary of the death of Kurdish woman Zhina (Mahsa) Amini in western Iran (Rojhelat), a monitor reported on Sunday.

On Wednesday, Kurdish-majority cities in Rojhelat largely went on general strike for the fourth anniversary of Amini, heeding the earlier call of a coalition of Iranian Kurdish opposition groups.

Following the strikes, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) summoned the shop owners who went on strike, temporarily shutting down their businesses while also making them sign a written undertaking not to participate in future strikes, according to the Paris-based Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN).

“The businesses of a number of citizens have been temporarily sealed by judicial order,” said the watchdog, which monitors human rights violations in Iran’s Kurdish-majority areas.

“An elderly businessman who protested the officers' threats [of closing his shop] was beaten and insulted in front of other people,” it added.

Videos also circulated on social media showing several cities, including Saqqez, Sanandaj (Sina), Mahabad, Bukan, and more, with shops closed and commercial activity limited. Shopkeepers and merchants closed their shops in at least 11 cities.

“Security institutions, including the IRGC Intelligence Organization and the Ministry of Intelligence, have summoned and arrested dozens of Kurdish businessmen and traders for participating in the strike,” the KHRN added.

Since Amini’s death, Kurds in Iran have held general strikes on the anniversary in her honor and in solidarity with her family, as a form of protest against state repression.

Amini, a young Kurdish woman, died in September 2022 in police custody of Iran’s so-called morality police over her alleged lax hijab, sparking one of Iran’s largest nationwide uprisings, known as the Jin Jiyan Azadi (Women Life Freedom) movement.

Iranian authorities heavily cracked down on the demonstrations, with over 500 people killed and tens of thousands of others arrested during the nationwide movement.

Rojhelat holds significant political and geographic sensitivity, long marked by resistance to Tehran’s policies as residents face decades of discrimination, heavy security crackdowns, economic underdevelopment, and limited job opportunities.