On September 16, 2022, a 22-year-old Iranian lady named Mahsa Amini, also known as Jina Amini or China Amini died in Tehran, Iran, under mysterious circumstances, purportedly as a result of police violence. The Guidance Patrol, Iran’s Law Enforcement Command’s morality police, detained Amini for not wearing the hijab in conformity with government regulations.
According to police, she suffered a heart attack at a station, fell to the floor, and died after two days in a coma. Eyewitnesses and others arrested with Amini claimed she was badly beaten, leading independent observers to diagnose brain hemorrhage and stroke based on her leaked medical scans.
Amini’s death sparked widespread protests across the country, attracting worldwide attention, including a statement from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees focusing on violence against women in the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Several foreign leaders, organizations, and celebrities criticized the incident and showed support for the demonstrators. The US Treasury Department placed sanctions on the moral police and Iranian commanders in several security groups.
The Iranian authorities sought to put a stop to the protests by shooting protestors with birdshot and metal pellets, deploying tear gas and water cannons,[18] banning access to various apps, including Instagram and WhatsApp, and limiting internet connection to limit protesters’ capacity to coordinate. These may be the most severe internet restrictions in Iran since the internet was entirely shut down in 2019.
Background
Protests against Hijab on Iranian Women’s Day, 1979. Shortly after the Iranian Revolution of 1979, the Islamic Regime of Iran imposed a required dress code for women in conformity with Islamic principles. On March 7, little than a month after the revolution, Ruhollah Khomeini made the hijab (Islamic headscarf) necessary for all women at work, as well as prohibiting women from entering the workplace or any government office exposed, which he referred to as “naked.”
Violence and harassment against women who did not wear the hijab according to Iranian government norms became prevalent following the revolution, whether perpetrated by police enforcement or pro-regime vigilantes. Since 1980, women have been unable to enter government or public facilities or work without wearing a headscarf.
In 1983, the penal law was amended to make public hijab mandatory, declaring that “women who appear in public without religious hijab will be condemned to whipping up to 74 lashes.” In actuality, however, a number of women, like Saba Kord Afshari and Yasaman Aryani, were sentenced to lengthy prison terms.
The clothing guidelines serve as a broad guideline, the specifics of which vary depending on the setting, but most typically require hair covering and wearing loose-fitting clothes that cover the chest. Men are also subjected to a less stringent clothing code. Article 638 of the law, as of December 2021, mandates 2 to 10 days in prison and a 50,000 to 500,000 IRR fine for “un-Islamic clothing code.”
Clothing in Iranian culture has changed significantly in the previous decade, and young women in particular are more permissive regarding hijab laws, forcing the Guidance Patrol, Iran’s morality police, to initiate intermittent campaigns to verbally or forcefully chastise them.
Protests against the compulsory hijab have been prevalent since 1979, with one of the major protests taking place between March 8 and 14, 1979, beginning on International Women’s Day and a day after the Islamic Republic imposed hijab laws. Demonstrations against mandatory hijab regulations continued, notably during the 2019-2020 Iranian protests when demonstrators attacked a Guidance Patrol van and liberated two imprisoned women.
Iran’s government Leader Ali Khamenei was quoted in 2020 as saying that “improperly veiled women should be made to feel unsafe,” a comment that was backed up by other officials and clerics and prepared the door for further violence against women.
However, an independent survey done the same year found that 58% of Iranians did not believe in hijab at all, and 72% were opposed to compulsory hijab restrictions. Only 15% insisted on the legal requirement of wearing it in public.
Evidence Of Violence
The facility where Amini was treated said on Instagram that she was brain dead when she was admitted. The Instagram post was later removed. Koresh, Amini’s brother, observed injuries on her head and legs. The woman who was imprisoned with Amini claimed she had been badly beaten for resisting the officers who had apprehended her with taunts and profanity.
Based on the clinical symptoms, including bleeding from the ears and bruises behind the eyes, a number of experts concluded that Amini had suffered brain damage. Medical scans of her skull, stolen by hackers, corroborated this, indicating bone fracture, bleeding, and cerebral edema.
According to Iran International, the Iranian government forged bogus medical records stating Mahsa Amini had a history of heart problems. Dr. Massoud Shirvani, a neurosurgeon, revealed on State-owned television on September 20 that Amini had a brain tumor removed when he was eight years old.
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