On Tuesday, several international leaders criticized the country over the death of Mahsa Amini, who fell into a coma last week just hours after being arrested by Iran’s morality police, the BBC reported. Amini was arrested by morality police on September 13 outside a transit station in Tehran. She was accused of violating a modesty law that requires women to wear headscarves, cover their hands and feet, and wear loose clothing.
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Amini’s death was the catalyst for many Iranian women to publicly remove their headscarves, cut their hair and burn their hijabs in protest. Story continues below ad In a video shared on social media, a woman in Kerman can be seen sitting on an elevated structure surrounded by crowds chanting “Death to the dictator”, a chant referring to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. As the woman applauds, a man cuts off her ponytail and holds it up to the crowd. UPDATES from. #IranDeath to the Dictator in Kerman 🔥Death to the Dictator in Kerman #MashaAmini pic.twitter.com/dl9iqDm5Lp — EyE (@EyE15920006) September 20, 2022 In a growing TikTok trend, many other women and men are also cutting their hair in protest. Tehran’s police chief called Amini’s death “unfortunate” and said it was an incident he did not want to repeat. The BBC reported that several witnesses claimed that Amini was beaten inside a police vehicle en route to a detention centre. Story continues below ad Iranian police have denied that a beating ever occurred, claiming instead that Amini suffered “sudden heart failure” while waiting to be “trained” at a women’s facility. Police also released CCTV footage of Amini’s arrest, where she is approached by a female officer holding her clothes before Amini collapses to the ground with her head in her hands.
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Amini’s father has since spoken to a news agency in favor of reform and claimed the CCTV footage released by police had been edited. The father also said that Amini was physically fit and had no health problems. He said that when he visited Amini in hospital after her coma, she had visible bruises on her legs. 1:48 Iran nuclear deal: US slow to respond to EU proposal Previous Video Next Video Story continues below ad Since the public announcement of Amini’s death, mass protests in Tehran have sparked clashes with security forces and other unrest that have claimed at least three lives. The UN human rights office has called for an investigation. The United States, which is trying to revive the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, has called on the Islamic Republic to end its “systemic persecution” of women. Italy also condemned her death. Trending Stories
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Iranian officials dismissed the criticism as politically motivated and accused unnamed foreign countries of fomenting the unrest. The governor of Tehran province, Mohsen Mansouri, accused foreign embassies of abetting the protests and said three foreign nationals had been arrested. He did not specify the nationality of the embassies or the detainees.
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The UN body said Iran’s morality police have expanded their patrols in recent months, targeting women for not wearing the hijab properly. The Associated Press obtained verified videos showing women being slapped in the face, beaten with batons and thrown into police vans for wearing the hijab too loosely. Amini was arrested by one of these moral police patrols. “The tragic death of Mahsa Amini and the allegations of torture and ill-treatment must be promptly, impartially and effectively investigated by an independent competent authority,” said Nada Al-Nashif, the acting UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. Story continues below ad US Secretary of State Antony Blinken tweeted that Amini “must be alive today”. Mahsa Amini should be alive today. Instead, the United States and the Iranian people mourn her. We call on the Iranian government to end the systemic persecution of women and allow peaceful protest. #مهسا_اميني — Secretary Antony Blinken (@SecBlinken) September 20, 2022 Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian dismissed the criticism, accusing the US of “shedding crocodile tears”. “An investigation has been ordered into (the) tragic death of Mahsa, who, as (the) President said, was like our own daughters,” he tweeted. “For Iran, human rights have intrinsic value – unlike those who see them (as) a tool against adversaries.”
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An inquest was ordered into the tragic death of Mahsa, who, the President said, was like our own daughters. For Iran, human rights have intrinsic value – unlike those who see them as a tool against adversaries. Instead of shedding crocodile tears, the US must end #EconomicTerrorism — H. Amirabdollahian (@Amirabdollahian) September 20, 2022 Story continues below ad Amini, who was Kurdish, was buried on Saturday in her hometown of Saqez in western Iran. Protests broke out there after her funeral and police used tear gas to disperse protesters on Saturday and Sunday. Several protesters were arrested. The protests spread to Tehran and other cities on Monday. A news website linked to state television said 22 people were arrested at a demonstration in the northern city of Rast. State television showed footage of protests on Monday, including images of two police patrol cars with their windows smashed. It said protesters also burned two motorcycles and burned Iranian flags in Kurdish areas and Tehran. In this Monday, Sept. 19, 2022, photo taken by a person not employed by The Associated Press and obtained by AP outside Iran, a man pulls out a police motorcycle set on fire during a protest over the death of a young woman who had been in custody for violating the country’s conservative dress code in downtown Tehran, Iran. AP Iran has seen waves of protests in recent years, mostly over a long-running economic crisis exacerbated by Western sanctions linked to the country’s nuclear program. The authorities managed to quell the protests with violence. Story continues below ad — With files from The Associated Press. © 2022 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
