美国国家公共电台 NPR--The death of a young Iranian woman in police custody continues to reverberate

The death of a young Iranian woman in police custody¹ continues to reverberate²

Transcript³

The woman who died in police custody setting off protests across Iran was Kurdish, and her case highlights the second-class status of nearly 10% of the country's people.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Today, we have a little more of the story of a woman who died in police custody in Iran, triggering weeks of protest. Mahsa Amini was 22 years old. She was a member of Iran's Kurdish minority, a group that has faced discrimination for a long time. Family and friends knew her by her Kurdish name, Gina. Here's NPR's Peter Kenyon.

(SOUNDBITE OF PROTEST)

PETER KENYON, BYLINE⁴: Despite the internet crackdown imposed by the government in Tehran, some videos are still being posted showing demonstrators, often led by women, defying the security forces to protest Mahsa Amini's death. Her family rejects the official explanation that she fainted and died of natural causes, saying she was beaten. The drama has captivated Iranians at home and abroad. Soma (ph), a Kurdish activist⁵ who left Iran for Europe several years ago out of fear she would be arrested if she stayed, asked that her family name not be used still for fear of repercussions⁶ from the government. She says, for as long as she can remember, Iranians from different ethnic⁷ groups - Persians, Azerbaijanis and others - have struggled to work together, especially with the Kurds.

SOMA: It's the first time we have all the country, different ethnicities, the different nations gathering⁸ and chanting for the same aim, for the same demands, political demands. It's the first time.

KENYON: Soma also says these demonstrations⁹ are notable in another way. They move beyond purely¹⁰ political demands to call for something that might seem ordinary to outsiders, not just a normal life, but a joyful¹¹ life.

SOMA: Yes, exactly, because, you know, one of the things is really being oppressed and banned by the government is the right to have a joyful life. A right to life, but especially to have a joyful life, because the sad life is completely recognized by the government. But the joyful life is completely banned.

KENYON: Vera Eccarius-Kelly, a professor of international relations at Siena College in New York, says the unrest in Kurdish provinces reflects what she calls the growing feeling among Iranians that the regime is, quote, "profoundly illegitimate."

VERA ECCARIUS-KELLY: It is losing public support and control. I am deeply impressed by the courage of so many protesters throughout Iran, but in particular in the Kurdish provinces, where women are taking off the hijab in the street and protesting. They're burning hijab publicly. They're cutting their hair publicly.

KENYON: Eccarius-Kelly says Kurds have long faced discrimination. They're Iran's third largest ethnic group, comprising roughly 10% of the population. Beyond that, she says, the fact that they are not majority Shia Muslims, like Iran's ruling class, has made them a target for suspicion and repression¹².

ECCARIUS-KELLY: So they are profoundly discriminated¹³ against because - not only because they're Kurdish, but because the Iranian regime is afraid of the size of this minority.

KENYON: She says Mahsa Amini, like many Iranian Kurds, wasn't even allowed to officially use her Kurdish name, Gina, instead having to use the name accepted by the Iranian state. She has little doubt these protests will continue because what Mahsa Amini did was no different from what huge numbers of Iranian women do every day, commit a small act of protest by showing a bit more hair under their hijab.

ECCARIUS-KELLY: That's why a lot of women and young people in Iran in general are saying, well, you know, it could have been me. And it could have been me means we need to push back because it will be me if we don't resist now.

KENYON: Iran's supreme¹⁴ leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has now weighed in on the protests, condemning¹⁵ them as plots engineered by the U.S. and Israel. Iran's Kurdish minority, along with much of the country, is watching to see what that may mean for the official response to this uprising.

Peter Kenyon, NPR News, Istanbul.

(SOUNDBITE OF B-SIDE'S "JUST DON'T CARE")

1 custody   

n.监护，照看，羁押，拘留

参考例句：

• He spent a week in custody on remand awaiting sentence.等候判决期间他被还押候审一个星期。
• He was taken into custody immediately after the robbery.抢劫案发生后，他立即被押了起来。

2 reverberate   

v.使回响，使反响

参考例句：

• The decision will reverberate and will jar the country.这项决定将引起反响并震撼这个国家。
• Echoes of cries of pain reverberate in my hear.痛苦呼喊的一遍遍的在我的心中回响。

3 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

4 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

5 activist   

n.活动分子，积极分子

参考例句：

• He's been a trade union activist for many years.多年来他一直是工会的积极分子。
• He is a social activist in our factory.他是我厂的社会活动积极分子。

6 repercussions   

n.后果，反响( repercussion的名词复数 )；余波

参考例句：

• The collapse of the company will have repercussions for the whole industry. 这家公司的垮台将会给整个行业造成间接的负面影响。
• Human acts have repercussions far beyond the frontiers of the human world. 人类行为所产生的影响远远超出人类世界的范围。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 ethnic   

adj.人种的，种族的，异教徒的

参考例句：

• This music would sound more ethnic if you played it in steel drums.如果你用钢鼓演奏，这首乐曲将更具民族特色。
• The plan is likely only to aggravate ethnic frictions.这一方案很有可能只会加剧种族冲突。

8 gathering   

n.集会，聚会，聚集

参考例句：

• He called on Mr. White to speak at the gathering.他请怀特先生在集会上讲话。
• He is on the wing gathering material for his novels.他正忙于为他的小说收集资料。

9 demonstrations   

证明( demonstration的名词复数 )； 表明； 表达； 游行示威

参考例句：

• Lectures will be interspersed with practical demonstrations. 讲课中将不时插入实际示范。
• The new military government has banned strikes and demonstrations. 新的军人政府禁止罢工和示威活动。

10 purely   

adv.纯粹地，完全地

参考例句：

• I helped him purely and simply out of friendship.我帮他纯粹是出于友情。
• This disproves the theory that children are purely imitative.这证明认为儿童只会单纯地模仿的理论是站不住脚的。

11 joyful   

adj.欢乐的，令人欢欣的

参考例句：

• She was joyful of her good result of the scientific experiments.她为自己的科学实验取得好成果而高兴。
• They were singing and dancing to celebrate this joyful occasion.他们唱着、跳着庆祝这令人欢乐的时刻。

12 repression   

n.镇压，抑制，抑压

参考例句：

• The repression of your true feelings is harmful to your health.压抑你的真实感情有害健康。
• This touched off a new storm against violent repression.这引起了反对暴力镇压的新风暴。

13 discriminated   

分别，辨别，区分( discriminate的过去式和过去分词 )； 歧视，有差别地对待

参考例句：

• His great size discriminated him from his followers. 他的宽广身材使他不同于他的部下。
• Should be a person that has second liver virus discriminated against? 一个患有乙肝病毒的人是不是就应该被人歧视？

14 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。

15 condemning   

v.（通常因道义上的原因而）谴责( condemn的现在分词 )；宣判；宣布…不能使用；迫使…陷于不幸的境地

参考例句：

• The government issued a statement condemning the killings. 政府发表声明谴责这些凶杀事件。
• I concur with the speaker in condemning what has been done. 我同意发言者对所做的事加以谴责。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》