Twenty-two-year-old Mahsa Amini was on a visit with her family to the capital of Iran when she was detained.
Tehran: A young Iranian woman died a few days after she was detained by the morality police for not wearing her hijab properly in public. While initially she slipped into a coma, she later died in the hospital. Meanwhile, activists have urged those responsible for her death to be brought to justice.
Twenty-two-year-old Mahsa Amini was on a visit with her family to the capital of Iran when she was detained on Tuesday. The Iranian state television said, “Unfortunately, she died and her body was transferred to the medical examiner’s office.”
Meanwhile, the 1500tavsir channel, which monitors violations in Iran, said “she had suffered a blow to the head”. When the media spoke to her family, the latter said Amini was healthy and was rushed to the hospital a few hours after her arrest and later, she died.
A massive outrage sparked off after Amini’s death and social media posts showed people gathering out the hospital and shouting anti-establishment slogans even as the police are trying to disperse the crowd.
The Amnesty International said, “The circumstances leading to the suspicious death in custody of 22-year-old young woman Mahsa Amini, which include allegations of torture and other ill-treatment in custody, must be criminally investigated. The so-called ‘morality police’ in Tehran arbitrarily arrested her three days before her death while enforcing the country’s abusive, degrading and discriminatory forced veiling laws. All agents and officials responsible must face justice.”
Prominent Iranian lawyer Saeed Dehghan said Amini’s death is a “murder” and said she suffered a blow to the head which resulted in the base of her skull to fracture. The state television also broadcast images which purportedly showed Amini falling to the ground inside a large hall full of women while arguing with one of the female instructors about her dress.
The Tehran police said “there was no physical encounter” between the officers and Amini. It added Amini was among a number of women who had been taken to a police station for “instruction” on the dress code.
Meanwhile, President Ebrahim Raisi has ordered the interior minister to open an inquiry into Amini’s case.
