Mahsa Amini fainted after a morality police official points to her headscarf. Later in the clip, a medical team takes her to a nearby hospital.
By Folayemi Oladimeji
A young Iranian woman died after she was violently arrested and reportedly beaten by Iran’s notorious morality police for not wearing a hijab.
Mahsa Amini, 22, went into a coma after being arrested in Tehran and died while she was in police custody in hospital.
Other women showed their anger at the news on social media by posting other examples of heavy-handed action by morality police against women without hijabs.
The Islamic Republic’s officials told local media that Amini suffered a heart attack while detained by morality police, denying reports that she had been beaten.
READ ALSO
Mannequins resemble sex toys, Hisbah explains ban in Kano
‘They killed my angel,’ her mother told the BBC Persian service. She said her daughter was healthy and without any problems.
She was on a visit to the Iranian capital with her family when she was detained by the special police unit that enforces the strict dress rules for women, including the compulsory headscarf.
‘She came here, they took her and this is what they did to her,’ her mother said.
The interior ministry and Tehran’s prosecutor launched probes into the case of Mahsa Amini after a call by President Ebrahim Raisi, state media reported, but her uncle was quoted by the Emtedad news website as saying the 22-year-old has died after being taken to a hospital following her detention at a station of the morality police.
Interior minister Ahmad Vahidi said he has asked his deputy to follow the case and find out what had happened.
‘I ask people who are talking about the incident to wait until everything becomes clear,’ he told state TV.
Iran’s state TV confirmed her death and released footage of her arriving in what it called an ‘explanation session’ of morality police after she was violently arrested and reportedly beaten.
The footage shows her sitting among other arrested girls. She faints after a morality police official points to her headscarf. Later in the clip, a medical team takes her to a nearby hospital.
In the past few months, Iranian rights activists have urged women to publicly remove their veils, risking arrest for defying the Islamic dress code as the country’s hardline rulers crack down harder on “immoral behaviour”.
