What Happened?
Anti-government protests in The Islamic Republic of Iran have continued for several weeks in response to Mahsa Amini’s death in the custody of morality police.
According to AP News, Iran’s government responded to the protests by making more than 1,900 connected arrests. Additionally, at least 154 deaths in connection to the protests have been estimated by Iran Human Rights, an Oslo-based group.
According to Reuters, protesters have been chanting “death to the dictator” and burning pictures of Iran’s theocratic leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. They did so even amid authorities using live ammunition and clubs. AP News added that women have been marching in the streets and cutting off their hair in public.
According to AP News, these protests have been widespread across the country and continue to spread into educational institutions. Iran has blamed the unrest on Western influences, the US, Israel and its Kurdish population bordering Iraq in the northwest. One of Iran’s most recent military responses included bombing three Kurdish militant group bases in Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdish region.
In Context
According to Reuters, Amini, 22, died in Tehran three days after morality police arrested her on Sept. 13 for not following Tehran’s Islamic dress code rules. The authorities who arrested the Kurdish woman insisted that her death was due to sudden heart failure from health issues, denying allegations that they beat her. Her parents said that she did not have any health issues.
Reuters added that doctors at Kasra hospital kept her family from seeing Amini after she was admitted. When her father went to the coroner, Amini’s body was covered in such a way that he could only see a small part of her bruised leg. The hospital made an Instagram announcement, taken down later, saying she arrived brain dead. Other arrested women who rode in the van with her said that she was begging to be let go and that police did beat her.
According to AP News, the morality police said Amini was not properly covering her hair with the hijab she wore. Reuters added that they claimed that her trousers were too tight.
According to Reuters, analysts say that the anti-government protests that broke out in response to Amini’s death are very similar in their collective spirit to the Islamic revolution in 1979. However, they are not nearly as big.
The Latest
According to the BBC, more women have died due to violence from Iran’s authorities since anti-government protests started in support of Amini. A typical pattern in their deaths is the subsequent attempts from authorities to silence their loved ones. After the death of Nika Shakarami, 16, her aunt and uncle were forced to announce on TV that she fell from a building under threats that other family members would be killed.
According to AP News, Iran’s violent response to protests has elicited global criticism. The US responded to Iran by pressing more sanctions on its government officials in the last week.
