Written by: INcontext International
Article source: www.incontextinternational.org
On Monday 19 September, Iranians continued to take to the streets of the capital Tehran and elsewhere in the country in protest of the death in police custody of a young Kurdish woman, Mahsa Amini, who had been detained for violating the country’s conservative dress code. There have been conflicting reports of the cause of her death. The police chief of Tehran, Hossein Rahimi, calls any claims of mistreatment false.
However, alleged eyewitness accounts, videos of the arrest, and accounts from family members paint a different picture. In Iran, the hijab has been mandatory since 1979 following the Islamic Revolution. Mahsa’s death has sparked an outpouring of anger and discontent. Journalists on the ground have reported women cutting their hair and burning their hijab in protest.
Dozens of universities saw large protests with at least one resulting in police firing at the protestors. There have been numerous unverified reports of deaths among protestors. Several respected Iranian news outlets reported that Colonel Ahmed Mirzaei, the head of the ‘moral security’ police of Greater Tehran, had been suspended from his role after the death of Mahsa Amini but Tehran police denied that he had been suspended or fired.
Iranian state media reported that President Ebrahim Raisi, who since his election last year has tightened enforcement of the headscarf law, spoke to Amini’s family by phone on Sunday.
He was reported to have said: “Your daughter is like my own daughter, and I feel that this incident happened to one of my loved ones. Please accept my condolences.” Analysts view these latest protests as problematic for Iran’s nuclear deal negotiations. It appears to confirm perceptions of an oppressed society and calls into question Iran’s stance that its nuclear ambitions are only for domestic energy provision, rather than as offensive weapons. Mr Raisi hoped, through his speech at the UN General Assembly on Tuesday 20 September, to revive negotiations with the West.
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Date published: 24/09/2022
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