Iranian woman, 22, dies after she was violently arrested by morality police for wearing an incorrect headscarf
- Mahsa Amini dies after detention by morals police for her appearance
- Officials said Amini suffered a heart attack while detained by morality police
- Her mother said Amini was healthy and without any problems
- Iranian rights activists have urged women to publicly remove their veils, risking arrest for defying the Islamic dress code
A young Iranian woman dies after she was violently arrested and reportedly beaten by Iran’s notorious morality police force for not wearing a hijab.
Mahsa Amini, 22, went into a coma after being arrested in Tehran and died while she was in police custody in Kasra hospital of the capital.
Following the calls for anti-hijab protests over the past weeks, videos posted on social media showed cases of what appeared to be heavy-handed action by morality police units against women who had removed their hijab.
The Islamic Republic’s officials told local media that Amini suffered a heart attack while detained by morality police, denying reports that she had been beaten.
‘They killed my angel,’ her mother told the BBC Persian service. She said her daughter was healthy and without any problems.
Mahsa Amini dies after detention by morals police for her appearance. She was on a visit to the Iranian capital with her family
She was on a visit to the Iranian capital with her family when she was detained by the special police unit that enforces the strict dress rules for women, including the compulsory headscarf.
‘She came here, they took her and this is what they did to her,’ her mother said.
The interior ministry and Tehran’s prosecutor launched probes into the case of Mahsa Amini after a call by President Ebrahim Raisi, state media reported, but her uncle was quoted by the Emtedad news website as saying the 22-year-old has died after being taken to a hospital following her detention at a station of the morality police.
State TV confirmed her death in a rolling news text without giving details.
In the past few months, Iranian rights activists have urged women to publicly remove their veils, risking arrest for defying the Islamic dress code as the country’s hardline rulers crack down harder on “immoral behaviour”.
Iranian rights activists have urged women to publicly remove their veils, risking arrest for defying the Islamic dress code
The Islamic hijab has been compulsory for women in Iran since shortly after the 1979 Islamic revolution that ousted the shah
Police said Amini had suffered a heart attack after being taken to the station to be “convinced and educated,” state television said, denying allegations she was beaten.
Her brother Kiaresh told the Iranwire that he was told that she had had a heart attack and a brain seizure and was now in a coma.
‘There were only two hours between her arrest and being taken to hospital,’ he said.
Vowing to file a criminal complaint he added: ‘I have nothing to lose. I will not let this end without making a noise.’
The incident was condemned by well known Iran director Asghar Farhady: ‘you are sleeping on your bed in the hospital, but your are awake more than any of us.’
‘We are in coma. We are pretending to be sleeping and not seeing this nonstop cruelty. We all have a share in this crime,’ the Oscar winning director said on Instagram.
‘Their kids are going and our kids are dying,’ said Ali Karimi, former striker of Bayern Munich and one of the most famous Iranian footballers.
A statement by the Tehran police confirmed she had been detained for ‘explanation and instruction’ about the dress rules, along with other women.
‘She suddenly suffered a heart problem while in the company of other guided people [and]… was immediately taken to the hospital with the cooperation of police and emergency services.’
It is not yet clear what happened between her arriving at the police station and her departure for hospital.
The 1500tasvir social media channel, which chronicles rights violations by the Iranian police, posted a picture of her in hospital with a tube in her mouth and said she was in a coma.
Iran morality police detain and arrest a woman for not wearing a headscarf
Police said Amini had suffered a heart attack after being taken to the station to be “convinced and educated,” state television said, denying allegations she was beaten.
‘Sickening,’ the Iranian-British actress and campaigner Nazanin Boniadi wrote on Twitter. ‘How many innocent young lives must be brutally robbed before we all rise?’
‘Mahsa Amini’s situation is an example of an intentional crime,’ the Iranian freedom of expression campaigner Hossein Ronaghi wrote on social media.
‘The systematic suppression of Iranian women under the pretext of enforcing the hijab by the guidance patrol and the police force is a crime.’
The incident comes as controversy grows – both inside and outside Iran – over the conduct of the gasht-e ershad (guidance patrol) who monitor and enforce the dress code in Iran.
The Islamic hijab has been compulsory for women in Iran since shortly after the 1979 Islamic revolution that ousted the shah.
Some women, encouraged by the US-based campaigner Masih Alinejad, have sought to protest the rule by removing their hijabs in public.
In mid-July, a young Iranian woman, Sepideh Rashno, disappeared in mid-July after becoming involved with a dispute on a Tehran bus with another woman who accused her of removing her headscarf.
She was held by the Revolutionary Guards and appeared on TV in what activists said was a forced confession.
She was released on bail in late August after about one and a half months behind bars.
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