FURY GROWS IN IRAN OVER WOMAN WHO DIED AFTER HIJAB ARREST

Mon 19 September 2022:

Protests persisted on Sunday and #MahsaAmini became one of the top hashtags ever on Persian-language Twitter as Iranians fumed over the death of a young woman in the custody of morality police enforcing strict hijab rules, Reuters reports.

Amini, 22, died on Friday after falling into a coma following her arrest in Tehran earlier in the week, putting a spotlight on women’s rights in Iran.

Police rejected social media suspicions that she was beaten, saying she fell ill as she waited with other detained women.

Hundreds of protesters gathered on Sunday around the University of Tehran on Sunday, shouting “Woman, Life, Freedom”, according to online videos.

Reuters could not verify the footage.

Under Iran’s sharia, or Islamic law, women are obliged to cover their hair and wear long, loose-fitting clothes. Offenders face public rebuke, fines or arrest. But in recent months activists have urged women to remove veils despite the hardline rulers’ crackdown on “immoral behaviour”.

Fit and had no health problems

Amini was detained outside a metro station in Tehran on Tuesday by morality police. They accused her of breaking the law requiring women to cover their hair with a headscarf, and their arms and legs with loose clothing.

According to witnesses, she was beaten while inside a police van that took her to a detention centre.

Police rejected the allegation and said she suffered “sudden heart failure” while waiting with other women at the facility to be “educated”.

They released CCTV footage that showed a woman they identified as Amini talking with a female official, who grabs her clothing. She is then seen holding her head with her hands and collapsing to the ground.

The interior minister said on Saturday that Ms Amini “apparently had previous physical problems”.

However, her father told pro-reform news outlets on Sunday that she was “fit and had no health problems”. He also said his daughter had suffered bruising to her legs and that the CCTV footage showed an “edited version” of events.

Surging Hashtag

The Persian hashtag #MahsaAmini has now reached 1.63 million mentions on Twitter.

Amini was from Kurdistan, where there were also protests on Saturday, including at the funeral in her hometown Saqez. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards have long put down unrest among the minority Kurds.

Police repressed the Saqez demonstrations, with videos posted online showing at least one man with a head injury. Reuters could not authenticate the videos.

⚠️ Confirmed: Real-time network data show a near-total disruption to internet connectivity in #Sanandaj, the capital of Kurdistan Province in west #Iran; the incident comes amid widening protests over the death of #MahsaAmini after her arrest by morality police 📉 pic.twitter.com/wZVHJjgpiR

— NetBlocks (@netblocks) September 19, 2022

Behzad Rahimi, a member of parliament for Saqez, told the semi-official ILNA news agency that a few people were wounded at the funeral. “One of them was hospitalised in the Saqez Hospital after being hit in the intestines by ballbearings,” he said.

Kurdish rights group Hengaw said, however, that 33 people were injured in Saqez. Reuters could not independently confirm the number.

Protest continues on Monday

Iranian police used tear gas to disperse a protest over the death of a young woman who had been arrested by the “morality police” which enforces strict dress codes, local media reported on Monday.

The security forces on Sunday arrested several of about 500 demonstrators in Sanandaj, north-western Kurdistan province, Fars news agency reported, without specifying how many.

The death has reignited calls to rein in morality police actions against women suspected of violating the dress code, in effect since the 1979 Islamic revolution.

Filmmakers, artists, athletes and political and religious figures have taken to social media to express their anger over the death, both inside and outside the country.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

FOLLOW INDEPENDENT PRESS:

TWITTER (CLICK HERE)
https://twitter.com/IpIndependent