In Iran, women have been at the center of escalating protests spurred by the death in detention of a woman detained for violating hijab regulations.
On Tuesday, ladies burned their hijabs on a bonfire in Sari, as the unrest entered its sixth night and extended to further places.
According to activists, two male demonstrators were fatally shot by police personnel in Urmia and Piranshahr in the northwestern region.
A police assistant was also reportedly murdered in southern Shiraz.
After the death of Mahsa Amini, protests against the hijab restrictions and the morality police are thought to have resulted in the deaths of at least six others.
After three days in a coma, the 22-year-old Kurdish woman from the northwestern city of Saqez passed away in the hospital on Friday.
She was in Tehran with her brother when she was arrested for violating the legislation mandating women to cover their hair with a hijab and their arms and legs with loose attire. She entered a coma immediately after collapsing at a prison facility.
According to reports, police struck Ms. Amini’s head with a baton and slammed it against one of their trucks, said Nada al-Nashif, acting high commissioner for human rights at the United Nations.
She suffered “sudden heart failure,” according to the police, who deny that she was abused. However, according to her relatives, she was fit and healthy.
Ms. Nashif stated, “The terrible death of Mahsa Amini and claims of torture and ill-treatment must be examined immediately, impartially, and efficiently by an independent competent authority that assures her family has access to justice and the truth.”
She highlighted that the United Nations had received “many, verifiable videos of aggressive treatment of women” as morality police have increased their street patrols in recent months to crack down on anyone deemed to be wearing “loose hijab.”
“The authorities must cease targeting, harassing, and detaining women who do not adhere to the hijab restrictions,” she added, advocating for their abolition.
State media stated that an assistant to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei visited Ms. Amini’s family on Monday and informed them that “all institutions will take action to defend the rights that were violated.”
Jalal Rashidi Koochi, a senior member of parliament, openly criticized the morality police, stating that the force was a “mistake” that had only resulted in “loss and damage” for Iran.
What are the hijab laws in Iran?
Following the Islamic Revolution of 1979, Iranian authorities mandated that all women wear a headscarf and loose-fitting apparel that conceals their figures in public.
Morality police, technically known as “Gasht-e Ershad” (Guidance Patrols), are responsible for ensuring women adhere to the government’s notion of “appropriate” attire. Officers have the authority to stop women and determine if they are displaying too much hair, if their pants and coats are too short or too snug, or if they are wearing too much makeup. Infractions are punishable by a fine, imprisonment, or flogging.
As part of an online protest campaign titled “My Stealthy Freedom,” Iranian women began publishing images and videos of themselves violating headscarf restrictions in public in 2014. Since then, it has spawned initiatives such as “White Wednesdays” and “Girls of Revolution Street.”
Ms. Nashif also expressed alarm at “the reported unwarranted or disproportionate use of force” against the tens of thousands of protesters after the death of Mahsa Amini.
Hengaw, a Norwegian organization that monitors human rights in mostly Kurdish regions of Iran, reported that a 16-year-old child and a 23-year-old man were murdered after security forces opened fire on protestors in Piranshahr and Urmia, both in West Azerbaijan province, on Tuesday evening.
As the disturbance intensified, the group also said that three male protestors were shot and killed by security forces in the neighboring province of Kurdistan on Monday – one in Saqez, Ms. Amini’s hometown, and two others in the cities of Divandarreh and Dehgolan. It had previously reported the death of the second guy in Divandarreh, but according to his relatives, he was in critical condition at the hospital.
On Tuesday, the state-run Irna news agency reported that a police assistant sustained fatal injuries during violent battles with protestors in the southern city of Shiraz.
Irna further stated that protests occurred in 15 cities overnight, including Tehran, Mashhad in the northeast, Rasht in the north, and Kerman and Isfahan in the center. To disperse protesters that blocked streets, threw stones, and set fire to police vehicles, officers deployed tear gas and made arrests, according to the report.
In the nation’s capital, online footage depicted women removing their headscarves and chanting “death to the tyrant” – a common allusion to the Supreme Leader. Others yelled, “Justice, freedom, no to mandatory hijab”
A woman who participated in a protest on Monday in Rasht shared Persian images of bruises she claimed were the consequence of being hit with batons and hoses by riot police.
“[The police] continued to fire tear gas. “Our eyes were on fire!” she said. “We were fleeing, but they cornered and assaulted me. They were calling me a prostitute and claiming I was selling myself on the street.
Tehran Governor Mohsen Mansouri tweeted on Tuesday that the protests were “completely organized to create instability,” while state television said that the murder of Ms. Amini was being exploited as an “excuse” by Kurdish separatists and establishment adversaries.
