Tehran: Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian woman who earlier this week fell into a coma after being arrested and allegedly “tortured” by Iran’s morality police for “improper hijab” has died, the semi-official Fars news agency reported Friday.
A relative confirmed to IranWire that Mahsa died in Kasra Hospital on Friday due to the severity of the injuries she had sustained. Her body is expected to be handed back to the family.
Amini had earlier this week traveled from Iran’s Kurdistan province to the capital Tehran to visit relatives when she was arrested by Iran’s morality police, known as “Gasht-e Ershad,” for “improper hijab” – that is, not fully covering her hair.
Iranian police on the other hand said Amini “suffered a heart problem” while in detention – an assertion activists reject. They said Amini was beaten by police officers.
“Tehran’s police announced that Mahsa Amini ‘suddenly suffered from a heart problem’ - as if a 22-year-old woman has a heart attack that causes a coma and disfigurement naturally. Iranian media are publishing this nonsense as fact,” Mahsa Alimardani, a digital-rights researcher with the human rights organization ARTICLE 19, wrote on Twitter.
Meanwhile, horror and outrage is mounting in Iran at the news of Mahsa Amini’s death.
Ali Karimi, a well-known Iranian football star, posted a picture of Mahsa lying prone in hospital on his Instagram page on Thursday.
“The future of Iran is a woman,” he wrote.
After news broke of Mahsa’s death the next day, he posted simply:
“My country is orphaned.”
Alireza Jahanbakhsh, the current captain of Iran's national football team, wrote on his Instagram page:
"And our girls' hair is covered up - with a shroud."
The Iranian actress Hanieh Tavassoli, who has recently faced pressure from the security agencies herself due to speaking out about sexual abuse in Iranian cinema, said: “I am appalled… A girl, 22 years young. Crime? Bad hijab. I’m so sorry, desperate and miserable, with all my heart.”
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