Hijab protests intensify; know why women are burning headscarves in Iran

Anti-hijab protests are continuing all over Iran against the state moral police and government following the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who died on last Friday under suspicious circumstances due to police brutality under their custody. Family’s AllegationFollowing her death, Mahsa’s father, Amjad Amini, accused the police and authorities of lying about her death. “They’re lying.

They’re telling lies. Everything is a lie … no matter how much I begged, they wouldn’t let me see my daughter,” BBC Persia quoted Amjad Amini as saying on Wednesday. “I have no idea what they did to her,” he said, CNN reported.

The Iranian police and authorities have denied the allegations, saying that Mhasa suddenly suffered a heart problem which led to her death. ‘Death to the dictator!’As the protests entered sixth day, women and men have taken to the streets to protest police atrocities. According to a Reuters report, as the protest intensified, people in Tehran and other cities of the country have torched police stations and their vehicles.

The protests have challenged to government, with women removing their state-mandated hijabs in the streets and Iranians setting trash bins ablaze and calling for the downfall of the Islamic Republic itself. ‘Death to the dictator!’ has been a common cry on the streets. Videos shared on social media showed infuriated women protestors in the town of Sari, in Iran’s Mazandaran province, taking off their hijabs and burning them in a pile.

Following the demonstrations, the police are cracking down on the protestors, dozens were injured, and at least nine people reportedly have been killed. Videos online show security forces firing tear gas and water cannons to disperse the protests. Meanwhile, a member of an Iranian pro-government paramilitary organisation, the Basij, was stabbed to death in the northeastern city of Mashhad on Wednesday, two semi-official Iranian news agencies reported on Thursday.

Widespread outages of Instagram and WhatsApp, which protesters use to share information about the government’s rolling crackdown on dissent. Authorities also appeared to disrupt internet access to the outside world. What happened with Mahsa?Mahsa was arrested by the officers in Tehran, who are responsible for enforcing the country’s hijab and dress code mandates.

According to the Tehran police, she was taken to the Vozara street detention centre to be “convinced and educated” about the hijab law and was released after a one-hour “re-educating class”. Mahsa was allegedly killed after being beaten for not wearing a hijab, which is an offence as per the Iran’s hijab law. The 22-year-old Iranian woman died last week (Sept 13) after she was severely beaten in the head by the Iranian regime’s “morality police”.

She was taken to a hospital and according to the Mahsa’s family members, went into coma and was declared brain dead. “Resuscitation was performed on the patient, the heartbeat returned, and the patient was admitted to the intensive care unit,” doctors wrote, according to a The Guardian report. The Iranian police and authorities have, however, denied the allegations, saying that Mahsa suddenly suffered a heart problem which led to her death.

Her death has sparked sharp condemnation from the United States, the European Union and the United Nations. (with sources and agency inputs)Haifa Day: 104 years ago, gallant Indian cavalrymen liberated this city in Israel from Ottoman rule.