Iranian woman dies 3 days after Morality police arrested her for not adhering to hijab law

In Iran, a 22-year-old woman died in a hospital after she was arrested by the regime's morality police for allegedly failing to follow the nation's hijab laws. Mahsa Amini, who was detained earlier this week by Iran's morality police, a specialised team that enforces strict dress standards for women, like wearing the mandatory headscarf, reportedly died after going into a coma, further sparking controversy on social media. Amini was arrested, according to Tehran police, for "justification and education" about the hijab, the required headscarf for all women in the nation, BBC reported.  

Amini was reportedly detained on Tuesday while she was travelling with her family from the western Iranian region of Kurdistan to the capital, Tehran, to see her relatives because she did not adhere to the nation's stringent clothing codes for women.  

Eyewitnesses said that Amini was beaten inside the police van after she was arrested in Tehran. The claims have been refuted by the police, who asserted that Amini "suddenly suffered a heart problem." According to the BBC report, Amini's relatives and family refuted this, noting that she was in good health and hadn't been suffering any issues with her health. 

Police denied the allegations of physical assault

Apart from this, police on Friday said that while Amini was being held in custody, there was no physical contact or aggression between the officers and her. The police even displayed closed-circuit footage that appeared to show that Amini was inside a police station, along with other inmates, CBS News reported. As per the footage, she stands up from a chair at one point, approaches another woman to start a conversation, grips her head in both hands, trips over a chair, and falls. The following scene shows her being removed on a stretcher. 

Furthermore, this came weeks after Iran's hardline president, Ebrahim Raisi, called for greater implementation of the nation's mandated dress code, which requires all women to wear the hijab head covering since the 1979 Islamic revolution, and ordered a crackdown on women's rights, The Guardian reported. 

After being arrested, Amini was transported to the hospital, and her family was informed about this. She was sent to the Kasra hospital's intensive care unit. As per The Guardian report, an Iranian human rights organisation, Hrana, stated that Amini's family was informed after her detention that she would be released following a "re-education session". 

According to her relatives, when she was brought to the hospital, Amini was in a coma and hospital staff informed them that she was brain dead.  

Further, on social media, images of Amini in a coma, bandaged up with breathing tubes, lying on a hospital bed were circulated. Iranian politicians and celebrities expressed their outrage at her hospitalisation and demise. 

According to the BBC report, Mahsa Amini's death came in the midst of increasing reports of oppressive actions against women, such as women being denied access to government buildings and financial institutions because they were deemed to not adhere to the Islamic dress code.  

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