Iranians in the western city of Mahabad held a rally and chanted anti-government slogans to mark the 40th anniversary of the mass execution of 59 youths in the 1`980s.

Videos show security and law enforcement forces surrounded the cemetery of the city an hour before a scheduled ceremony and closed the entrances.

Although the roads to the cemetery were blocked, a group of people gathered near the location holding the pictures of those executed on June 2, 1983. They also carried the photos of those killed during “Woman, Life, Freedom” protests since September 2022.

The protesters chanted slogans like "The Dictator Is Afraid of Us" and "The Martyr Never Dies".

On June 2, 1983, the Iranian regime executed 59 people in the Kurdish-majority city of Mahabad for suspected opposition and based on unknown charges.

Since the establishment of Islamic republic, the regime has mounted massive military, economic, cultural, social and psychological pressures against ethnic Kurds.

Mahsa Amini who died after being arrested by the morality police in September 2022 for "improper hijab" was a 22-year-old Kurdish-Iranian woman. Her death ignited the largest and longest anti-regime nationwide protests in Iran.

The massacre of the prisoner took just a few minutes, while they had no chance to appeal for pardon while some of them were under 18.

The Islamic Republic calls the Kurdish armed groups in the western provinces of Iran, "terrorist groups" or "anti-revolutionary" but these groups say that the goal of their armed campaign is "defending the rights of the Kurds".