A young woman named Mahsha Amini died in police custody over the hijab issue in Iran. At least 75 people have been killed in ongoing protests across the country demanding a fair trial. Besides, more than 12 hundred people have been arrested from the protest site.
Yesterday Monday (September 27), the British media The Guardian reported this information with reference to the Iranian human rights organization Oslo.
However, according to the latest data from the country’s government, at least 41 people have been killed in the protests. Among them are members of law enforcement.
22-year-old Mahsha Amini was arrested by the country’s morality police for violating the hijab law. Then he was sent to the police detention camp. Mahsha Amini died after being in a coma for three days after her arrest.
According to police, Mahsha Amini died of heart attack. However, eyewitnesses alleged that Mahsha Amini was tortured while being taken to the police van. That’s why he died.
There are massive demonstrations and protests in 80 cities of the country in protest of this incident. Law and order forces have taken strict action to quell the protests. The number of casualties in their firing is increasing every day.
On the morning of September 17, the funeral of Mahsha Amini was held in Kurdistan, the western province of Iran. After his funeral, some people left, while others raised slogans demanding a fair trial. Then they gathered in front of the governor’s office. There they also started raising slogans demanding fair trial. The security guards then dispersed them by firing tear gas.
From there, massive protests against hijab started across the country.
The Iranian government is trying to control social media to control the protests. Already the network activities of various mobile companies have been slowed down. Efforts are being made to control the use of other media including Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram. Despite this, the intensity of the protests continues to increase.
Amidst the protests, the country’s human rights activist Melika Karagozlu was sentenced to four and a half years in prison for uploading a video on Facebook without a hijab on September 19.
Hijab has been compulsory for women since the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran. This dress code is strictly enforced by the country’s moral police.
But for the past few years, there has been a strong reaction to the implementation of dress code rules by various people, especially young women, around the various activities of the moral police. In various videos published on social media, policemen often force women into police vehicles.
In 2017, dozens of women took off their hijabs in public to protest. Then the authorities took strict action against them.
(September 27)