TEHRAN — Fresh
protests broke out Monday at several universities in
Iran’s capital, local
media reported, over the death of a young woman who had been arrested by the
“morality police” that enforces a strict dress code.
اضافة اعلان
The rallies came a day after police made arrests and
fired tear gas in the woman’s home province of
Kurdistan, where some 500 people
had protested, some smashing car windows and torching rubbish bins, reports
said.
Public anger has grown since authorities on Friday
announced the death of Mahsa Amini, 22, in a hospital after three days in a
coma, following her arrest by Tehran’s morality police during a visit to the
capital.
Such police units enforce a dress code in the
Islamic republic that demands women wear headscarves in public.
It also bans tight trousers, ripped jeans, clothes
that expose the knees, and brightly colored outfits.
Police have insisted there was “no physical contact”
between officers and the victim.
Tehran police chief Gen. Hossein Rahimi said Monday
that the woman had violated the dress code, and that his colleagues had asked
her relatives to bring her “decent clothes”.
He again rejected “unjust accusations against the
police” and said that “the evidence shows that there was no negligence or
inappropriate behavior on the part of the police.”
“This is an unfortunate incident and we wish never
to see such incidents again.”
Students rallied, however, including at the
capital’s Tehran and Shahid Beheshti Universities, demanding “clarification” on
how Amini died, according to Fars and Tasnim news agencies.
Protests were reported in other universities
elsewhere.
Her death has reignited calls to rein in morality
police actions against women suspected of violating the dress code, in effect
since the 1979 Islamic revolution.
Filmmakers, artists, athletes, and political and
religious figures have taken to social media to express their anger over the
death, both inside and outside the country.
President
Ebrahim Raisi, an ultra-conservative
former judiciary chief who came to power last year, has ordered an inquiry into
Amini’s death.
Distraught father
On Sunday Iranian police
used tear gas and arrested several demonstrators in Sanandaj, northwestern
Kurdistan province, Fars reported, without specifying how many.
“About 500 people gathered in Sanandaj, capital of
Kurdistan province, and shouted slogans against the country’s leaders,” Fars
reported.
Protestors “smashed the windows of some parked cars,
set fire to bins”, and “police used tear gas to disperse the crowd”, the agency
said. “Some people were arrested by the police.”
“Many demonstrators are convinced that Mahsa died
under torture,” Fars reported.
State television on Friday broadcast a short
surveillance video that showed a woman identified as Amini collapsing in the
police station after an argument with a policewoman.
Amjad Amini, the victim’s father, told Fars that he
did “not accept what (the police) showed him”, arguing that “the film has been
cut”.
He also criticized the “slow response” of the
emergency services, adding: “I believe Mahsa was transferred to the hospital
late.”
Interior Minister
Ahmad Vahidi said Saturday he had
received reports that the emergency service had “immediately” arrived at the
scene.
“Mahsa apparently had previous physical problems and
we have reports that she had undergone brain surgery at the age of five,”
Vahidi said.
Her father however “insists that his daughter had no
history of illness and was in perfect health,” Fars reported.
Fars quoted the father as saying: “I asked the
coroner to examine the bruises on my daughter’s legs, but unfortunately he did
not respond to my request.”
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