What happened ? A young Iranian woman arrested by morality police in Tehran on Tuesday died on Friday, state television said. Mahsa Amini, 22, was visiting Tehran with her family when she was arrested on Tuesday by the special police unit responsible for enforcing strict dress codes for women, including a requirement to cover their hair with a scarf.
Tehran police said Thursday Mahsa Amini was arrested along with other women to receive “instructions” on dress codes. “She suddenly suffered from a heart problem (…) she was immediately taken to the hospital,” she said.
The Islamic Republic killed this woman to enforce the hijab.
After days in a coma, the source said: “Mahsa Amini, 22, died today.”
She was beaten by the morality police for wearing “bad hijab.”
Iranian women are outraged. Enforced hijab is the main pillar of religious dictatorship. pic.twitter.com/51EyYwB8iX
– Masih Alinejad 🏳️ (@AlinejadMasih) 09/16/2022
“Unfortunately, she died and her body was transferred to the forensic institute,” state television said on Friday. In a statement, Tehran police confirmed the death and said there was “no physical contact” between officers and the woman.
On Tuesday, Mahsa Amini was “taken to one of the police headquarters along with a number of other people for wearing inappropriate clothing” but “she suddenly passed out while she was in a briefing room with other people.”
A controversial morality police
State television showed excerpts from a video showing a room, apparently in the police station, where many women can be seen. One of them, introduced as Mahsa Amini, gets up to argue with an “instructor” about her clothes, then collapses. In another clip, the emergency services transport the woman’s body to an ambulance.
Before announcing the death, the Iranian Presidency had indicated in a press release that President Ebrahim Raisi had tasked the Interior Minister with investigating the affair. The country’s judicial authority had also announced through its news agency Mizan Online that a special group would be formed to launch an investigation.
The incident came as controversy simmered over the behavior of the moral police, who patrolled the streets to check on the application of the headscarf law and other Islamic rules in public places. In July, police found themselves at the center of controversy after video went viral showing a woman pleading for her daughter’s release in front of a police van she was in.
The mother had attempted to stop the vehicle from leaving by holding onto it, but the van had managed to pull away at high speed. After the 1979 Islamic Revolution, the law required all women, regardless of nationality or religious beliefs, to wear a veil that covers the head and neck while concealing the hair. In the last two decades, however, more and more women in Tehran and other major cities are letting strands of hair, or even more, stick out of their veils.