A 22-year-old Iranian woman has died after falling into a coma following her arrest and detention by Iran’s morality police.
The Morality Police, a branch of Iran’s Law Enforcement Command that patrols the streets enforcing the hijab mandate, arrested Mahsa Amini on September 13.
Protests and civil disobedience against the compulsory wearing of the hijab have occurred ever since Ebrahim Raisi, Iran’s president, doubled down on his mandate to enforce the Islamic dress code last July.
Amini, a resident of Saqqez, Iran, was arrested while vacationing with her family. The Morality Police planned on sending her to a nearby police station to be “re-educated.”
Two hours after her arrest, Amini was rushed to the hospital. According to IranWire, the Tehran Emergency Services paramedic, who brought Amini to the hospital, relayed a Code 99.
Code 99 indicates that the paramedics are transporting a patient nearing death.
At the hospital, emergency physician documents indicated that Amini “had a sudden cardiac arrest, and the paramedic gave her CPR.”
Sadaf, one of the women arrested along with Amini that night, told IranWire that she saw Amini collapse. “I wasn’t in the same van as Mahsa, but we were together in Vozara, and I was there the moment she fell,” she said.
Sadaf added that the Morality Police took away their mobile phones and instructed them to sit on the same side of the detention room. “Right after I sat down, I saw one of us fall to the ground and hit her head on the chair,” she added.
Sadaf added that a female member of the Morality Police, who was verbally harassing them, saw Amini collapse but paid no attention. Another detainee held Amini in her arms.
The other women detainees tried forcing Amini to wake up by splashing water on her face. After Amini remained unresponsive, a paramedic was called to examine her.
“Everybody was screaming and crying. The girl holding Mahsa in her arms said: ‘Be quiet. Her blood pressure has dropped,” Sadaf added.
On September 16, Amini died at the Kasra Hospital after two days in a coma. Amini’s family was told by Wednesday that she suffered severe brain damage.
Less than a week after Amini’s death, violent protests broke out across Iran. At least five deaths have been reported.
Women are leading the protests with large crowds cheering them on. Some were removing their hijabs in protest and throwing them into a fire while dancing. Others were shaving their heads in the streets.
Iranian women are burning their head scarfs in protest to compulsory hijab rule of Islamic Republic, tonight in Sari, Iran#IranProtests#IranRevolutionpic.twitter.com/MYBGwVgXZH
— ZiZi (@zizikhanoum) September 20, 2022
Many Iranians, including individuals known to be pro-government, expressed outrage on social media. Hossein Mahini, a prominent football player in Iran, tweeted a picture of Amini lying unconscious in the hospital.
متنفریم ازتون متنفر#مهساامینی pic.twitter.com/bDDQhZInt0
— Hossein Mahini (@HosseinMahini) September 16, 2022
Atheist Republic News Team’s note: This is a rapidly developing story.
