The protests that erupted in Iran after the death of a young woman arrested by the morality police are now in mourning. Three people were killed during demonstrations in Kurdistan, announced the governor of the province, Ismail Zarei Koosha, quoted by the Fars news agency. The Iranian official locates these deaths in different localities of the province, without specifying the date. But he also speaks of “suspicious deaths, part of a plot fomented by the enemy”, before affirming that one of the victims had been killed by a type of weapon not used by the Iranian forces.
The death of Mahsa Amini, 22 years old and from the Kurdistan region (north-west), is the source of this wave of anger in the country. She was arrested on September 13 in Tehran, where she was visiting with her family, for “wearing inappropriate clothes” by the vice police, a unit responsible for enforcing the Islamic Republic of Iran’s strict dress code for women. women. According to state television and her family, Masha Amini fell into a coma after her arrest and died on September 16 in hospital,
Activists claim she suffered a head injury while in custody. Iranian police have dismissed the charges and an investigation has been opened.
Supreme Leader visits family
Faced with the anger caused by this death, the representative of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in Kurdistan, Abdolreza Pourzahabi, went to the family home of Masha Amini on Monday, according to the Tasnim agency.
The envoy told the family that “measures will be taken” and that Ayatollah Khamenei was “pained” by the death. “As I promised the Amini family, I will follow the case to the end,” he said.
Abroad, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights ad interim, Nada Al-Nashif, expressed “her concern over the death in custody of Mahsa Amini (…) and the violent reaction of the forces of security to the demonstrations that followed”.
“The tragic death of Mahsa Amini and the allegations of torture and ill-treatment must be promptly, impartially and effectively investigated by an independent competent authority (…)”, she added.
In Iran, covering your hair is compulsory in public. The morality police further prohibit women from wearing short coats above the knee, tight pants and jeans with holes as well as brightly colored outfits, among other things.