The death of Mahsa Amini, 22, in Tehran due to injuries allegedly inflicted upon by the Iranian Moral Police for violating the dress code, has triggered widespread protests in Iran with women tossing Hijab and cutting off their hair in protest.
The police unit in charge of upholding Iran’s severe dress code for women, particularly the requirement that they cover their heads in public, had already come under increasing fire in recent months for using excessive force.
A 22 year old iranian woman was brutally killed by the moraly police “sharia police” just because she wasn’t wearing “proper forced!! hijab”#Mahsa_Amini #مهسا_امینی pic.twitter.com/xrKrFxwMNs
— 사지 (@chedonom) September 19, 2022
Women taking off their compulsory #Hijab in Tehran shouting “Down With the dictator”. #Iran #مهسا_امینی #ژینا#Mahsa_Amini
— SharBalaa / شربلا (@SharOBalaa) September 19, 2022
The death of Mahsa Amini, 22, has rekindled calls to limit the actions taken by the “moral police” against women who are thought to be in violation of the dress code, which has been in place since the Islamic revolution of 1979.
It is pertinent to mention that not wearing a hijab in Iran is a punishable crime under the Islamic Hijab Rules.
This is Tehran capital of Iran. The murdering of #MahsaAmini Became a turning point for women of Iran. Hijab Police killed Mahsa because a little bit of her hair was visible. Now she became a symbol of resistance for women to take their disability back.#مهسا_امینی pic.twitter.com/SDlYXbEJt4
— Masih Alinejad 🏳️ (@AlinejadMasih) September 19, 2022
Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman, was detained by Iranian morality police on September 13, 2022 as she traveled to Tehran, the capital city of the country. She was allegedly beaten before being sent to the infamous Vozara detention facility, according to eyewitnesses.
Following her arrest by the morality police in Tehran last week, Mahsa Amini, 22, slipped into a coma and passed away. Iranians outraged by the way security forces treat women protested against the government all throughout the country.
However, an Iranian police chief denied allegations of torture.
Addressing a news conference on Monday, Tehran’s police chief, Brigadier-General Hossein Rahimi, said claims of Mahsa Amini’s torture or any mistreatment are “completely false”.
People in #diwandara Kurdistan, protests against allegedly killing of #Mahsa_Amini by moral police in #iran pic.twitter.com/9AKJg5Kzgp
— Afshin Ismaeli (@Afshin_Ismaeli) September 19, 2022
Since the death of Mahsa Amini , there have been demonstrations by Iranian women across the country. They have been organizing marches and strike calls. Women are leading the protest, and some of them have taken off their hijabs in public, risking detention. Additionally, people have used TikTok to publish videos of themselves chopping off their hair in protest.
Women removed their headscarves or hijabs at Mahsa Amini’s funeral in her hometown of Saqqez, Kurdistan region, according to BBC, while cries of “death to the tyrant” erupted among the crowd.
