Mahsa – Mahsa Jina Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish woman from the northwestern city of Saqqez, hailed from Kurdistan, Iran. She was arrested by the Morality Police on the accusation of not wearing the “proper” hijab, She ultimately lost her life due to torture while in police custody. Amini's death sparked the Woman, Life, Freedom movement, originating in Saqqez and Kurdistan before spreading across Iran and beyond. The movement's rallying cry, "Jin, Jiyan, Azadî," meaning "Woman, Life, Freedom" in Kurdish (and was also translated as “Zan, Zendegi, Azadi” into Persian), has become a symbol in the fight for justice and liberation.

Sanandaj – Sanandaj is a city in the Kurdistan province of Iran where many of the protests over the police killing of Mahsa Jina Amini took place. The Kurdistan province witnessed some of the most violent clashes between the protestors and the authorities, who tried to suppress the movement.