Iran is again receiving global criticism following the death of a young woman held in custody by the morality police. This event has sparked widespread, nationwide protests in Iran that have seen civilians clash with police in the country’s major cities. The protest has claimed at least three lives.
UN officials have called for an immediate investigation into the matter. The US, which is pushing to revive its nuclear deal with Iran, which Donald Trump broke, urged the Iranian government to stop its systemic persecution of women.
Iran, however, called the unrest a political sabotage by some unnamed countries.
Iranian officials reported the death of three men in the Kurdish area where the unrest began. On Monday, Fars News Agency reported a gathering of around 300 people that broke street signs and sang, “death to the dictator.” Tehran’s Province governor blamed foreign embassies for encouraging the unrest and claimed that the deaths reported so far are unrelated to police brutality.
The UN issued a statement that Iran’s morality police have intensified patrols recently and are now after women not properly wearing a hijab, the traditional headscarf. Videos have surfaced online showing victims harassed and assaulted before being thrown into police vehicles.
These patrols led to the detention of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who later met her untimely death after collapsing in a police station. However, Iranian police have denied any wrongdoing and claimed she died due to a heart attack. The matter is still under investigation.
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights representative, Nada Al-Nashif, has called on authorities to investigate the torture claims impartially.
The US joined millions of Iranians mourning the tragic death of Amini. It urged Iran to allow peaceful demonstrations as civilians seek to end systematic persecution of women.
In a statement, the Italian Foreign Ministry said that, “Violence towards innocent civilians, especially women and girls, is intolerable.”
Iran police released video footage showing when Amini collapsed due to a heart attack. However, her family says she had no heart problems. Amini’s father claims several people witnessed his daughter being shoved into a police vehicle. Her father’s request to access camera recordings from the police car and police station hasn’t been honored. Amini’s father blamed the police for not promptly transferring Amini to the hospital, where she could have been resuscitated.
Although Amini’s father was not allowed to view his daughter’s body, he saw a bruise on her foot. In addition, the authorities pushed him to bury his daughter at night to avoid protests. The family convinced him to bury her at 8 a.m.
Amini was buried on Saturday in Saqez, her home city. Following her funeral, protests erupted, and police had to fire several canisters of tear gas to disperse the crowds on Saturday and Sunday. The protests spread to Tehran and other cities on Monday.
State-run TV showed images of police cars with windows broken by protesters. In addition, two motorbikes and Iranian flags were burned in Tehran and Kurdish areas. The state broadcaster accused the opposition and foreign nations of leveraging Amini’s death as a pretext to apply more economic sanctions on them.
