UA wind of protest is blowing through Iran after the death of a 22-year-old young woman, Mahsa Amini, three days after her arrest by the morality police in Tehran. “Dear Mahsa, your name will become a symbol”, proclaims Sunday, September 18, under the photo of his grave, the front page of the economic newspaper Asia in unison with much of the Iranian press.
This unit, responsible for ensuring the application of the compulsory Muslim veil in the country, has been criticized on several occasions in recent months for its violent interventions against women suspected of violating the dress code in force in the country since the Islamic Revolution in 1979. Mahsa Amini, 22, from Kurdistan in northwestern Iran, was visiting the capital with her family when she was arrested on Tuesday by police enforcing strict dress rules for women.
On Friday afternoon, a crowd gathered outside Kasra Hospital in central Tehran where the girl died after three days in a coma. In Saghez, her hometown where she was buried on Saturday, residents threw stones at the governor’s seat and shouted hostile slogans.
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Mahsa Amini on the front page of all the newspapers
On Sunday, almost all of the capital’s press devoted their front page and entire pages to this tragedy. “The public is shocked and angry by what happened to Mahsa Amini”, notes the reformist newspaper Etemad, stating that the nation has seen “repeatedly the violence of the morality police”. The moderate newspaper Jomhouri Eslami warns of the “social fracture” caused by the “violent behavior” of police officers.
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The daily Iran, a government publication, accused the reformers of “exploiting the emotions of the people by using an unfortunate incident to turn the nation against the government and the president”. The ultra-conservative newspaper Kayhan noted that “the volume of rumors and lies raised after Mahsa’s death has increased dramatically”. “However, the publication of the images of this incident by the police confused the opportunists who wanted to use this incident”, indicates the newspaper.
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He is referring to a short surveillance video broadcast by state television showing a woman portrayed as Mahsa collapsing in police premises after a discussion with a female officer. Tehran police said “there was no physical contact” between police officers and the young woman. Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi has called for an investigation to be opened. “The nation has expressed its sorrow after the sad death of Mahsa,” wrote the ultra-conservative newspaper. Javan.
Top 1 trending on Twitter
Many filmmakers, artists, sports, political and religious figures have expressed their anger on social networks. Former president and leader of the reformist current Mohammad Khatami called on the authorities to “stop actions contrary to law, logic and Sharia” and to “bring to justice the perpetrators of the incident” .
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Grand Ayatollah Assadollah Bayat Zanjani denounced as “illegitimate” and “illegal” all of the “behaviors and events” at the origin of “this unfortunate and regrettable incident”. “The Koran clearly prevents the faithful from using force to impose the values they consider religious and moral,” he said.
Filmmaker Asghar Farhadi, winner of two Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film, observed that “Mahsa is more alive today than us” because “we are asleep, unresponsive to this endless cruelty, we are complicit in this crime “. “Our daughters’ hair is covered with a shroud,” several national football team players wrote in a joint Instagram story.
“If they are Muslims, may God make me an infidel,” said Bayer Leverkusen striker Sardar Azmoun. On Twitter, the hashtag #Mahsa_Amini in Persian was No. 1 trending Sunday noon with nearly 1.5 million tweets.