Seventeen people died during violent protests in Iran over the past six days over the death of a young woman arrested by police.
The demonstrations erupted after the 22yearold was hospitalized and died in police custody for not wearing her veil “right”. The Iranian government has not yet clarified what caused the deaths, sparking an unprecedented movement in the country against the oppression of women and Iran’s socalled “morality police.”
Under Iranian law, which is based on Sharia a legal interpretation of the Koran women are required to wear the hijab, a type of Islamic veil that covers the head, hair and neck.
- Understand how the death of a young man wearing a headscarf sparked protests in Iran
According to an official record published on Wednesday (22), demonstrators and members of the security forces are among those killed in the protests.
The deaths occurred amid clashes between protesters and police in various regions of the country, including Tabriz, Qazvin and Mashhad in the northeast, Shiraz in the center of the country, and Kermanshah and Iranian Kurdistan in the northwest.
The young woman who was killed after being arrested by police, Mahsa Amini, is from Kurdistan and was on vacation with her family in northeastern Iran when she was reprimanded and arrested by police officers who said she was wearing her veil not right.
The Iranian authorities deny the security forces’ responsibility for the deaths of the protesters. According to the Iranian press, all of the deaths were due to gunshots or stab wounds.
- PROTESTS IN IRAN: ‘Moral police’ stirs fury after the death of a woman who was arrested for not being veiled
- Once again, the United Nations has accused France of religious prejudice for preventing the use of the Islamic headscarf