The death of Mahsa Amini, a Kurdish-Iranian visiting Tehran, shocked the nation. Amini was arrested by morality police last Tuesday, accused of wearing tight pants that violated the Republic’s mandatory Islamic dress codes for women, Tehran police confirmed on Monday. While Iranian officials have denied killing her while in custody, suggesting a heart attack left her in a coma for four days before she was released, her death has sparked calls for an end to strict dress codes. Protesters clashed with security forces in central Tehran, witnesses said, with dozens of women removing their headscarves. Protests in the northwestern province of Kurdistan continue after Amini’s funeral on Saturday. In the town of Divandarreh, videos on social media showed exchanges of gunfire between security forces and protesters, while businesses in cities and towns across the region went on strike. Protests were also reported in the central city of Isfahan, Rast on the Caspian Sea, Mashhad in the northeast and Karaj near the capital. “THE WHOLE [of] Iran is in the blood: from Kurdistan to Tehran,” chanted the students of Amirkabir University of Technology in Tehran on Monday. Others shouted: “Are they killing you for a scarf? How long will this humiliation last?’ At the University of Tehran, students chanted: “women. ZOE; freedom”. “Kurdistan has been shut down as the world remains furious about what happened to their innocent girl,” a Kurdish activist told the Financial Times. “Can’t they see that the Curdines took off their scarves at her funeral?” Tehran’s police chief, Brigadier General Hossein Rahimi, on Monday reiterated claims that Amini was not physically injured. He said there was no camera in the van used to arrest her, but added there were eyewitnesses who proved she was unharmed. Police released two CCTV footage showing him getting out of the van and entering a lounge to listen to Islamic teachings, with no evidence of violence, before collapsing to the ground. Iranians have also expressed their disgust at Amini’s death on social media. At least two actresses appeared without the mandatory covering in videos, and another filmed herself showing off her hair shaved off. Many businesses in Tehran posted stories on Instagram saying they would not be promoting commercial activities until further notice to respect national mourning. Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said Sunday she was like “my daughter” in a phone call to Amini’s family, who belong to the country’s Sunni Muslim minority, and promised an investigation. Other state agencies, including the judiciary and the majlis (parliament), have also pledged to investigate the cause of death. But the judiciary also warned on Monday that the Islamic Republic will not allow anyone to take advantage of this tragedy to undermine the regime by spreading false allegations. While many Iranian women have questioned the requirement to dress modestly by not wearing headscarves, Amini’s saga has prompted some to call for the law to be overturned entirely. Even some politicians and clerics of Shia Islam have joined the campaign to say that the requirement to wear the hijab is out of step with modern Iranian society. Parvin, a 52-year-old Shia Muslim, said: “I chose the hijab myself because I believe in it, but now I am horrified to see this beautiful girl killed. That’s not what Islam says.”
