Iran confirms first deaths in protests over Mahsa Amini’s death

Tehran, Iran – An Iranian governor has confirmed the first fatalities during protests over the death in police custody of a young woman named Mahsa Amini – but the governor has said the three individuals were killed by anti-establishment elements.

Esmail Zarei Kousha, the governor of the northwestern Kurdistan province, told reporters on Tuesday that three people died “suspiciously” during “illegal protests” in recent days, according to state-affiliated media.

The 22-year-old Amini was travelling away from her home in Saqqez and was in Tehran with family last week when she was detained by the so-called morality police for wearing an “improper” hijab.

When in a “guidance centre” later the same day, she had a stroke and a heart attack and was transferred to a nearby hospital, where she died several days later.

Her family has explicitly denied claims by Tehran’s police chief earlier this week that she was not beaten, that she had several pre-existing conditions like epilepsy and diabetes, and that she had violated Iran’s mandatory hijab rules in effect since shortly after the country’s 1979 Islamic revolution.

R&I – TxPAT

jw

Article URL : https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/9/20/iran-confirms-first-deaths-in-protests-over-mahsa-aminis-death