Iran is witnessing countrywide protests after the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in Tehran due to injuries allegedly inflicted upon by the Iranian Moral Police for violating the dress code.
The death of Mahsa Amini has rekindled calls to limit the actions taken by the “moral police” against women who are thought to be in violation of the dress code, which has been in place since the Islamic revolution of 1979.
It is pertinent to mention that not wearing a hijab in Iran is a punishable crime under the Islamic Hijab Rules.
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Who was Mahsa Amini?
Mahsa Amini, who also went by the name Jina, was a 22-year-old woman from the western city of Saqqez in Iran’s Kurdistan province.
Mahsa Amini was detained by Iranian morality police on September 13 when she was traveling to Tehran, the capital city of the country. She was allegedly beaten, according to eyewitnesses, before being sent to the infamous Vozara detention facility.
Following her arrest by the morality police in Tehran last week, Mahsa Amini slipped into a coma and passed away.
What was Mahsa Amini’s crime?
Iranian officials have claimed that Amini was detained for breaking the Iranian dress code law. However, Amini’s mother has claimed that her daughter was wearing a long, loose robe as required.
Iranian Police deny torture allegation
Amini’s family disputes the Iranian security services’ assertion that she had a heart attack at the detention facility and was therefore dead, insisting that their daughter was in perfect health when she was taken into custody.
Outrage in Iran
Since the death of Mahsa Amini, there have been demonstrations by Iranian women across the country. They have been organizing marches and strike calls. Women are leading the protest, and some of them have taken off their hijabs in public, risking detention. Additionally, people have used TikTok to publish videos of themselves chopping off their hair in protest.
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Women removed their headscarves or hijabs at Mahsa Amini’s funeral in her hometown of Saqqez, Kurdistan region, according to BBC, while cries of “death to the tyrant” erupted among the crowd.
Video shared by BBC lead presenter Rana Rahimpour shows women standing on top of burning police cars, railing against the Islamic Republic.
Social media has been buzzing with the unrest. On Wednesday morning, top hashtags in Iran included posts about police responses to ongoing protests over Amini’s death.
Women taking off their compulsory #Hijab in Tehran shouting “Down With the dictator”. #Iran #مهسا_امینی #ژینا#Mahsa_Amini
— SharBalaa / شربلا (@SharOBalaa) September 19, 2022
International Community’s reaction
There have been demonstrations outside the Iranian consulate in Istanbul, Tehran, and other cities. Women across the globe were seen burning their hijabs and chanting, “Women, life, freedom,” and “Death to the dictator,” in reference to Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader.
Many women in Kerman, an Iranian city where women are required to wear hijabs in public, took to the streets on Tuesday to protest Amini’s death.
Meanwhile, US National security adviser to Jake Sullivan said that the circumstances surrounding Amini’s death have the United States “extremely concerned”.
