Security forces cracked down on protesters demonstrating across Iran over the death of a young woman in the custody of its so-called morality police, allegedly killing five.
The death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish woman from western Iran, during a visit to the capital this month has stirred outrage over the government’s increasingly strict enforcement of ultraconservative dress codes for women.
The case has drawn worldwide interest with condemnations from the United States, the European Union and the United Nations.
Amini was detained as she exited a metro station, and she suffered a heart attack and slipped into a coma while in custody, state-affiliated media said. Her family insisted that she had no previous health problems, and activists asserted that she may have been beaten by police.
Monday marked the third day of unrest across Iran, with protests in numerous places, including Tehran, the capital. Two people were killed as security forces fired on protesters in the Kurdish city of Saqez — Amini’s hometown — while two more died in the town of Divandarreh and a fifth was killed in Dehgolan, according to Hengaw, a rights watchdog. The claims could not immediately be independently verified by The Washington Post.
In Tehran, photos from the scene of one protest showed demonstrators crowded around a burning motorcycle. Videos posted on social media appeared to show protesters injured after clashing with authorities. Internet access was restricted in parts of the country.
Iran hasn’t confirmed any deaths during the protests. The semiofficial Fars News Agency reported that security forces dispersed demonstrators in a number of cities, and that police arrested the leaders of some of the protests.
A senior morality police official, Col. Ahmed Mirzaei, was suspended after Amini’s death, according to Iran International, a London-based news channel. Officials denied those claims, the Guardian reported. The Interior Ministry previously ordered an investigation into Amini’s death at the behest of archconservative Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi.
The police commander of the greater Tehran area told reporters that Amini was wearing a hijab that was not suitable. He said she didn’t resist detention and even made jokes in the police van. The headscarf and other conservative dress have been compulsory for women since Iran’s 1979 revolution.Iran doubles down on abortion and contraception restrictions
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken called on the Iranian government “to end its systemic persecution of women and to allow peaceful protest,” in a tweet Tuesday.
The acting high commissioner for human rights at the United Nations, Nada Al-Nashif, issued a statement Tuesday expressing alarm at her death and calling for an independent investigation.
“Mahsa Amini’s tragic death and allegations of torture and ill-treatment must be promptly, impartially and effectively investigated by an independent competent authority, that ensures, in particular, that her family has access to justice and truth,” she said in a statement.
“The authorities must stop targeting, harassing, and detaining women who do not abide by the hijab rules,” she added, calling for a repeal of mandatory hijab regulations.
In its own statement Monday, the European Union said what happened to Amini was “unacceptable and the perpetrators of this killing must be held accountable.”
Raisi is in New York this week, where he will address the U.N. General Assembly about the country’s relations with the West. He told reporters at the Tehran airport that he has no plans to meet with President Biden on the sidelines of the event, the Associated Press reported. Indirect negotiations between Washington and Tehran to revive a 2015 nuclear deal appear to be close to stalling.
Raisi, a hard-line cleric who assumed office last year, has called for strict enforcement of the dress codes. Last month, a video appeared to show a woman detained by Iran’s increasingly assertive guidance patrols being thrown from a speeding van.
The government crackdown sparked a protest movement over the summer by Iranian women, who photographed themselves without headscarves and posted the pictures on social media.
…as if The US Government has any moral authority to declare other countries to be in violation of human rights. Let’s go talk to those sitting in a DC Jail for trespassing…for 18 months with no trial and spurious charges. What hypocrites the US Government continue to be. Let’s legally convict all the corrupt US authorities for treason and legally dangle them all from a rope till they die slowly, choking to death as a free people laugh, giggle and pound them with bags of wet-feces and garbage. Then we can worry about Iran.