“Unfortunate incident”, says Iran about the death of a 22-year-old woman who did not wear the headscarf “correctly”

Iranian police today described the death of a young woman in custody as an “unfortunate incident” that they do not wish to repeat, Fars news agency reported today.

H 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, originally from Kurdistan, was visiting Tehran with her family when she was arrested on Tuesday by the special police unit responsible for enforcing the strict “dress code” for women for not covering her hair with the hijab.

The young woman fell into a coma and died after her arrest, sparking anti-authority protests across the country by Iranians outraged by security forces’ treatment of women.

The morality police have been accused repeatedly in recent months of their violent interventions.

Police had indicated over the weekend that Amini fell ill at the police station where she had been taken while waiting with other women who had been arrested.

“The incident was unfortunate for us and we hope never to face such incidents again,” stated the Hossein Rahimi, Tehran police commander in a statement.

Rahimi stressed that the officers did not mistreat Amini, denying complaints posted on social media against the morality police.

“Cowardly accusations were hurled at the Iranian police. We will wait until the day of judgment because we cannot stop doing the work of policing.” Rahimi pointed out, adding that he cannot comment on the cause of Amini’s death because it is a medical matter and not a security matter.

Demonstrations

In the meantime, the security forces broke up yesterday Sunday with the use of tear gas demonstration in northwestern Iran and made “many arrests” of people protesting Amini’s death.

“Around 500 people gathered in Sanandaz, the capital of Kurdistan province, and shouted slogans against the country’s officials,” according to Fars.

Protesters “smashed the windows of some cars, set trash cans on fire” and “police used tear gas to disperse the crowd,” the agency added.

“Many people were arrested,” he noted, without elaborating on their number.

Another demonstration was held on Saturday in Sanghez, Amini’s home town, which was also broken up by police.

“Many protesters are convinced that Makhsa died from torture,” Fars underlined today.

For its part, the Tehran police announced on Friday that “there was no physical contact” between its members and the victim.

On the same day, Iranian state television aired excerpts of a video showing a room, apparently a police station, with several women inside. One of them, identified as Mahsha Amini, stands up to chat with an “instructor” about the clothes she’s wearing and then collapses. In another clip of the video, Amini can be seen being taken to an ambulance.

Today Amzad Amini, Mahsha’s father, told Fars that he “does not accept the video that the police showed him” because, according to him, “it has been edited”.

He also criticized emergency services for “acting late”. “I think Mahsa was brought to the hospital late,” he complained.

On Saturday, the Iranian interior minister Ahmad Vahidi claimed that “Mahsa apparently had underlying medical problems” and that “she had undergone brain surgery when she was five years old”.

Amini’s father told the pro-reform Emtedad news website on Sunday that his daughter was in good physical shape and had no health problems.

RES-EMP

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