Fresh protests have taken place in Iran following the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in the custody of vice police. Police continue to deny responsibility for the death as an investigation has been opened. In Tehran as in Mashhad, “several hundred people chant slogans against the authorities, some of them remove or even burn their hijab”, reports the Fars agency. On social networks, videos show dozens of people, most often women, having removed their veils and shouting “Death to the Islamic Republic”. 20 minutes takes stock of protests rocking Iran as Emmanuel Macron has just met the Iranian president in New York.
What’s going on in Iran?
Protests have been spreading across Iran for five consecutive nights in the capital Tehran and other major cities across the country, including Mashhad (northeast), Tabriz (northwest), Rasht (north), Isfahan (center ) and Kish (south). These demonstrations are among the largest in Iran since those of November 2019, triggered by rising gasoline prices. In images posted on social networks, we see many women present in the processions, some fiercely removing their headscarves and waving them in the air in protest.
Rallies took place in the capital, but the most violent clashes took place in the province of Kurdistan. During the night from Tuesday to Wednesday, according to the official Irna agency, demonstrators took to the streets blocking traffic, burning garbage cans and police vehicles, throwing stones at the security forces and chanting anti-government slogans. .
A short video broadcast by the Fars agency shows a crowd of several dozen people, including women, who have removed their veils, shouting “Death to the Islamic Republic”. Police used tear gas and made arrests to disperse the crowd. The governor of Kurdistan, Ismail Zarei Koosha, for his part announced on Tuesday that three people had been killed during the demonstrations in the province, without specifying a date. Two others were killed in the Iranian province of Kermanshah on Tuesday.
Why are Iranian men and women protesting?
Because Mahsa Amini, aged 22 and from the Kurdistan region (north-west of the country), was arrested on September 13 in Tehran where she was visiting with her family, for “wearing inappropriate clothes” by the vice squad. Masha Amini fell into a coma after her arrest and died on September 16 in hospital, according to her family.
Thousands of activists consider the death of the young woman “suspicious” but the Tehran police said that there was “no physical contact” between the police and the victim. “Many demonstrators are convinced that Mahsa died under torture”, wrote the Fars agency and are asking the authorities for “clarifications”. “We have carried out investigations (…) And all the evidence shows that there was no negligence, or inappropriate behavior on the part of the police”, assured for his part the chief of police of Tehran, General Hossein Rahimi
Note that Iranian Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi said on Saturday that “Mahsa apparently had previous problems” and that she “had undergone brain surgery when she was five years old”. Information denied by the father of the young woman, who assured that his daughter was “in perfect health”.
What is the Iranian Vice Police?
In Iran, covering your hair is compulsory in public. The Vice Police, a unit responsible for enforcing the Islamic Republic’s strict dress code for women, further prohibits women from wearing short coats above the knee, tight pants and jeans with holes as well as outfits in bright colors.
This unit has been repeatedly criticized in recent months for violent interventions. But since the death of Mahsa Amini, senior Iranian officials have dared to denounce this police force, officially known as the Gasht-e Ershad, or “orientation patrol”. In Parliament, MP Jalal Rashidi Koochi, quoted by the Isna agency, thus estimated that the morality police “caused damage to the country”.
More radical, Moeenoddin Saeedi, another parliamentarian, announced his intention to propose the complete abolition of this force: “I believe that due to the ineffectiveness of the Gasht-e Ershad in making people understand the culture of the hijab, this unit should be suppressed, so that the children of this country will not be afraid when they meet her. »
Finally, according to the Organization for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice, an influential state-affiliated body created in 1993 and “responsible for putting an end to immoral activities”, “we must stop arresting and prosecuting people wearing their headscarves incorrectly but amending the law so that it is only considered an offence”.
What are the reactions from Iran and internationally?
In an attempt to ease tensions, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s representative in Kurdistan, Abdolreza Pourzahabi, went to the family home of Masha Amini on Monday, according to the Tasnim agency. The envoy said Ayatollah Khamenei was “pained” by the death and “promised the Amini family to follow the case to the end”.
For her part, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Nada al-Nashif, expressed “her concern at the violent reaction of the security forces to the demonstrations”, and called for an “impartial” and “independent” investigation. “. On the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York, French President Emmanuel Macron declared, after an interview with Iranian President Ebrahim Raïsi, to have “insisted on respect for women’s rights” in Iran.
Following condemnations from the UN, US, France and other countries, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani slammed what he called “interventionist positions “It is unfortunate that some countries are trying to take advantage of an incident under investigation to pursue their political goals and desires against the Iranian government and people. »
For his part, the Iranian president, who telephoned the Amini family on Sunday evening, accused the West on Wednesday of having “double standards” regarding women’s rights, citing the deaths of women from indigenous peoples in Canada or Israeli actions in the Palestinian Territories.
Finally, many filmmakers, artists, sports, political and religious figures expressed their anger on social networks. “We are asleep, unresponsive to this endless cruelty, we are complicit in this crime,” said filmmaker Asghar Farhadi, winner of two Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film. “Our daughters’ hair is covered with a shroud,” several national football team players wrote on Instagram. “If they are Muslims, may God make me an infidel,” said Bayer Leverkusen striker Sardar Azmoun.
On Twitter, the hashtag #Mahsa_Amini in Persian was at the top trending position on Monday with more than two million tweets.
