A 22-year-old woman died days after being detained by Iranian vice police in Tehran for allegedly failing to comply with the country’s strict dress code.
According to TV channel iran International, Mahsa Amini was arrested while walking down the street with her brother, who was protesting the arrest. The patrol informed him that the young woman would be taken to the local detention center for an “educational session” and would be released in an hour. A few hours later, relatives were informed that the woman was hospitalized.
According to eyewitnesses, after Mahs’s arrest, Amini was beaten by police officers in a police van and suffered serious head injuries.
Authorities deny the allegations and say the woman “suddenly developed heart problems.” However, the family rejects this version, emphasizing that Mahsa was a healthy woman with no health problems to justify sudden heart problems.
On Thursday, the victim’s uncle told reporters that his niece’s heart and kidneys failed. The doctors told the family that there was nothing they could do to save the young woman, he added.
Mahsa Amini was in a coma for several days and died this Friday. OUR The young man was from the Kurdish province of Saqqez and was in Tehran with his family visiting relatives.
Growing crackdown on women in Iran
Authorities say Mahsa Amini was detained for “justifying and enlightening” the hijab, a veil Iranian law requires women to wear.
However, this is not the first case of police brutality against women in recent weeks. The death comes as the Iranian government redoubled its efforts to force women to wear the hijab and crack down on civil disobedience campaigns.
The vice police have stepped up street patrols and there are reports of women being prevented from entering government buildings or banks for allegedly not following the Islamic dress code. Videos have also surfaced on social media showing other detentions in which women were raped, as well as footage of clashes between police and the public.
According to the BBC, many Iranians (including pro-government voices) have criticized the very existence of the vice police. One of the hashtags used in the publications translates as “Killing Patrols”.
Many Iranians directly blame Ali Khamenei for this. An old video of the supreme leader has returned to the Internet. In this, he justifies the role of this police and emphasizes that, according to the laws of Islam, women must be forced to comply with the dress code.
As the BBC notes, the new cases are likely to further divide Iranian society, further alienating youth from conservative rulers.
