Mahsa Amini’s death
In Iran protests raged across the country after the death of 22 years old Kurdish-Iranian women Mahsa Amini. Women took to the streets, cutting their hair and burning their Hijab. Moreover, Iranian women received support from members of the Iranian Diaspora from far-flung cities such as Istanbul, Toronto and Berlin people chanting their anti-regime slogans, pictures of leaders defaced and burned. That issue erupted on the death of Mahsa Amini.
On Tuesday Iran’s Morality Police arrested the girl, her crime was not wearing a Hijab appropriately. Under Iran’s Sharia Law, women are obliged to cover their hair, offenders often face fines or arrests, and they are detained by the Morality Police for violating the country’s conservative dress code.
According to witnesses, Amini was allegedly beaten inside a Police van, they then took her to Detention Center. She then collapsed while in detention, after spending three days in coma Amini died in the hospital. However, Iranian authorities have rejected all claims of torture. They say, she fell ill while waiting for other women in fact they even released a video of the same.
Iran’s interior minister Ahmed Vahidi said on media that, we have not received any report about the beating of Amini by regulatory bodies, we are aware of this incident whether it happens or not, basically, Morality Police do not have the means to beat or strike. But, her parents say otherwise, they say their daughter was perfectly healthy and did not suffer from any chronic medical conditions. Activists too say she was ill-treated in the detention center. The anger has now fueled protests that began last week. These are the biggest protests since November 2019. These protests present a new challenge to the leadership they are taking place nationwide.
Protesters were also seen directly resisting security forces, women refused to put their Hijab back on and the vehicles belonging to Police were torched. At least 40 people have been killed in the protests and authorities believe the crackdown will only intensify. Amini’s death also put the plight of Iran’s Kurds in focus, nearly 8 to 10 million Kurds live in Tehran, they have long suffered deep-rooted discrimination, their social, political and cultural rights have been repressed. Kurdish regions have been economically neglected resulting in entrenched poverty among the group. It was an issue that the Iranian president addressed at the United Nation General Assembly (UNGA) in which he blamed the West for their double standards and treatment of women.
It’s a revolution that has started with the murder of a young Iranian women and it will not end so easily. Many women are in prison or have been killed or have had to leave their homeland because of the Hijab issue in Iran and women are suppressed. Protests in Iran these days are the worst ones that Iran has witnessed in years a combination of factors are at play. Brutal role of Morality Police, galloping inflation, dire situation of Iran’s economy due to sanctions and international isolation. Mahsa Amini’s death appears to have been the last straw that broke the camel’s back.
As per reports, Mahsa Amini is not the only woman who has been rounded up and brutalized by the Morality Police. In past recent years, there have been repeated instances where Morality Police have resorted to heavy-handed measures to enforce its obscure understanding of the law. Iran government has responded by deploying its anti-ride police. By suspending internet and imposing curves on social media sites like WhatsApp and Instagram.
Through its official media channels, Tehran has accused the Kurdish separatists for the unrest in the country but unless the Ibrahim Raisi administration can address the concerns raised by the youth and provide justice to Mahsa Amini whose death has jolted the conscience of the Iranian nation these protests will not tie down anytime soon.