NEW DELHI: Multiple videos of Iranian women cutting their hair and burning hijabs have gone viral on social media, as public outrage grows over the death of a 22-year-old woman who allegedly suffered a heart attack while in custody. . The so-called ‘moral police’.
mahsa amini He died on 16 September after falling into a coma following his arrest in Tehran early last week.
below IranSharia, or Islamic law, obliges women to cover their hair and wear long, loose-fitting clothing. Offenders face public reprimands, fines or arrests. But activists in recent months have urged women to remove the veils despite crackdown on “immoral behavior” from hardline rulers.
The case has shed light on the rights of women in Iran.
Police fired tear gas shells
Kurdish Amini was buried on Saturday in his hometown of Saqeez in western Iran. Protests broke out after his funeral and police fired tear gas to disperse the protesters. Protests erupted across Iran on Sunday and have continued ever since.
There are 8 to 10 million Kurds living in Iran. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards have quelled unrest in the country’s Kurdish regions for decades, and the radical judiciary has sentenced many activists to lengthy prison or death sentences.
women showed their anger
Masih Alinejad, an Iranian journalist and activist, shared a video of women cutting their hair on his social media account and wrote, “Iranian women show their anger by cutting their hair and burning hijab in protest against the killing of #Mahsa_Amini by hijab police.”
The Persian hashtag #MahsaAmini had reached 1.63 million mentions on Twitter as of Sunday afternoon.
Alinejad said, “From the age of 7 if we don’t cover our hair, we won’t be able to go to school or get a job. We are fed up with this gender apartheid regime.”
In another tweet, an Iranian journalist shared footage from the University of Tehran and said that students joined the protest against Mahsa’s killing. amini By “Hijab Police”. He also said that the Iranians were angry.
“Yesterday security forces opened fire on protesters in the city of Saghez but now Tehran has joined the protest,” Alinejad said in a tweet.
Filmmakers, actors, athletes and political and religious figures have taken to social media to express their anger against the ethics police inside and outside the country.
Former President and Reformist mohammed khatami Called on the authorities to end action against “law, logic and Sharia” or Islamic law, and “bring criminals to justice”.
Grand Ayatollah Asadullah Bayat Janjani, a cleric considered close to the reformists, condemned the “illegitimate” and “illegal” actions behind “this regrettable incident”. “The Quran explicitly forbids the use of force to enforce religious and moral values,” he said.
mysterious circumstances
Human rights activists who spoke to the family said that the police caught Amini and forced her to take her inside a police vehicle. Her brother, Kiarash, tries to intervene and the police tell her that they are taking her sister to the police station for an hour to “re-educate”.
Her brother was waiting for her release outside the police station, but an ambulance pulled over and took her sister to the hospital. “The woman was sent to the Greater Tehran Police Complex for guidance and education when suddenly, in the presence of others, she suffered a heart attack,” police said.
Questioning the incidents reported by the police, Mahsa’s family said that she was normal and had no prior heart disease.
The human rights organization Amnesty International said, “Circumstances involving allegations of torture and other custodial abuse leading to custodial death warrant a criminal investigation.”
It said, “The so-called ‘moral police’ in Tehran arbitrarily arrested him three days before his death while enforcing the country’s abusive, degrading and discriminatory coercive cover-up laws. Justice to all agents and responsible officials.” must face.”
Iranian President Ibrahim after this incident erupted on social media Raisi The Home Minister has been ordered to investigate the matter. Several lawmakers said they would take up the matter in Parliament, while the judiciary said it would set up a special task force to investigate.
growing resentment
Amini’s death comes amid growing controversy inside and outside Iran over the conduct of the ethics police, formally known as the Patroll-e Ershad (Guidance Patrol). The mandatory dress code, which applies to all nationalities and religions, not just Iranian Muslims, requires women to cover their hair and neck with scarves.
For decades, women have increasingly pushed back, especially in large cities, by wearing scarves over their heads to reveal their hair.
‘cowardly accusation’
Iranian police said on Monday that the young woman’s death in custody was an “unfortunate incident” that they do not want to see again and again.
“This incident was unfortunate for us and we never want to see such incidents happen,” Greater Tehran Police Commander hossein rahimi said in a statement.
He said that there was no misbehavior with Amini, refuting the claims circulated on social media against the morality police. “Cowardly allegations have been leveled against the Iranian police. We will wait until the day of judgment but we cannot stop the security work,” Rahimi said.
He said he could not comment on the cause of death as it was a medical issue rather than a security one.
(with inputs from agencies)
mahsa amini He died on 16 September after falling into a coma following his arrest in Tehran early last week.
below IranSharia, or Islamic law, obliges women to cover their hair and wear long, loose-fitting clothing. Offenders face public reprimands, fines or arrests. But activists in recent months have urged women to remove the veils despite crackdown on “immoral behavior” from hardline rulers.
The case has shed light on the rights of women in Iran.
Police fired tear gas shells
Kurdish Amini was buried on Saturday in his hometown of Saqeez in western Iran. Protests broke out after his funeral and police fired tear gas to disperse the protesters. Protests erupted across Iran on Sunday and have continued ever since.
There are 8 to 10 million Kurds living in Iran. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards have quelled unrest in the country’s Kurdish regions for decades, and the radical judiciary has sentenced many activists to lengthy prison or death sentences.
women showed their anger
Masih Alinejad, an Iranian journalist and activist, shared a video of women cutting their hair on his social media account and wrote, “Iranian women show their anger by cutting their hair and burning hijab in protest against the killing of #Mahsa_Amini by hijab police.”
The Persian hashtag #MahsaAmini had reached 1.63 million mentions on Twitter as of Sunday afternoon.
Alinejad said, “From the age of 7 if we don’t cover our hair, we won’t be able to go to school or get a job. We are fed up with this gender apartheid regime.”
In another tweet, an Iranian journalist shared footage from the University of Tehran and said that students joined the protest against Mahsa’s killing. amini By “Hijab Police”. He also said that the Iranians were angry.
“Yesterday security forces opened fire on protesters in the city of Saghez but now Tehran has joined the protest,” Alinejad said in a tweet.
Filmmakers, actors, athletes and political and religious figures have taken to social media to express their anger against the ethics police inside and outside the country.
Former President and Reformist mohammed khatami Called on the authorities to end action against “law, logic and Sharia” or Islamic law, and “bring criminals to justice”.
Grand Ayatollah Asadullah Bayat Janjani, a cleric considered close to the reformists, condemned the “illegitimate” and “illegal” actions behind “this regrettable incident”. “The Quran explicitly forbids the use of force to enforce religious and moral values,” he said.
mysterious circumstances
Human rights activists who spoke to the family said that the police caught Amini and forced her to take her inside a police vehicle. Her brother, Kiarash, tries to intervene and the police tell her that they are taking her sister to the police station for an hour to “re-educate”.
Her brother was waiting for her release outside the police station, but an ambulance pulled over and took her sister to the hospital. “The woman was sent to the Greater Tehran Police Complex for guidance and education when suddenly, in the presence of others, she suffered a heart attack,” police said.
Questioning the incidents reported by the police, Mahsa’s family said that she was normal and had no prior heart disease.
The human rights organization Amnesty International said, “Circumstances involving allegations of torture and other custodial abuse leading to custodial death warrant a criminal investigation.”
It said, “The so-called ‘moral police’ in Tehran arbitrarily arrested him three days before his death while enforcing the country’s abusive, degrading and discriminatory coercive cover-up laws. Justice to all agents and responsible officials.” must face.”
Iranian President Ibrahim after this incident erupted on social media Raisi The Home Minister has been ordered to investigate the matter. Several lawmakers said they would take up the matter in Parliament, while the judiciary said it would set up a special task force to investigate.
growing resentment
Amini’s death comes amid growing controversy inside and outside Iran over the conduct of the ethics police, formally known as the Patroll-e Ershad (Guidance Patrol). The mandatory dress code, which applies to all nationalities and religions, not just Iranian Muslims, requires women to cover their hair and neck with scarves.
For decades, women have increasingly pushed back, especially in large cities, by wearing scarves over their heads to reveal their hair.
‘cowardly accusation’
Iranian police said on Monday that the young woman’s death in custody was an “unfortunate incident” that they do not want to see again and again.
“This incident was unfortunate for us and we never want to see such incidents happen,” Greater Tehran Police Commander hossein rahimi said in a statement.
He said that there was no misbehavior with Amini, refuting the claims circulated on social media against the morality police. “Cowardly allegations have been leveled against the Iranian police. We will wait until the day of judgment but we cannot stop the security work,” Rahimi said.
He said he could not comment on the cause of death as it was a medical issue rather than a security one.
(with inputs from agencies)