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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
World
Benjamin Lynch

Woman, 22, dies after Iranian police beat her into a coma for not wearing hijab

A woman has died in Iran after she was beaten into a coma and declared brain dead by the country's morality police.

Mahsa Amini, 22, was arrested in Tehran for not complying with t he strict and oppressive rules regarding the wearing of hijabs on Tuesday.

She had travelled from Kurdistan to the country's capital to visit relatives when she was abducted from the street and beaten at a police station where a number of other women were also held.

Her brother Kiarash Amini told Iranwire he was with Mahsa when she was taken and police blocked their way with a patrol van so they could force their victim inside.

Mahsa was just 22 when she was beaten into a coma and later died (Newsflash)

Noticing an ambulance, he said he heard screaming as he approached the police prison and saw women fleeing after they were released.

Kiarash said: "Every one of them said somebody inside had been killed. I showed Mahsa's picture to the women. One of them said Mahsa was next to her when it happened.

"I was shocked, and terrified. I asked one of the soldiers what had happened.

"He said 'One of our own soldiers has been injured.' He was lying. I didn't believe him. It was Mahsa in that ambulance. I ran until I reached Kasra Hospital."

American actress Leah Remini asked people to share Mahsa's story (Newsflash)

Police in Tehran deny she was beaten to death and claimed that during a session of "justification and education", the young woman "suddenly suffered a heart problem".

Mahsa's grieving brother has vowed not to let his sister's death pass and filed a complaint at a courthouse.

He said: "I will pursue it. But you know how the system works. They gave me a letter and told me to go to the headquarters in Vozara Avenue to register my complaint there.

"It's like asking my father to name the murderer if I killed someone in our house.

"But I won't allow this to end in silence. I will tell everyone in Iran what happened."

Woman have long campaigned to be able to wear what they like in Iran (ABEDIN TAHERKENAREH/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock)

Women in Iran must wear a hijab in public and the topic has been subject to a great deal of debate and country-wide protests recently.

Brave protesters across Iran took to social media and the streets to argue against the laws on Hijab and Chastity Day in the country on July 12.

In response to the #No2Hijab and #WalkingUnveiled movements, police arrested a number of people.

One video emerged of a woman not wearing a hijab being harassed on a bus before fellow passengers intervened.

Iran's hijab laws were tightened earlier this year (ABEDIN TAHERKENAREH/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock)

She was later identified by police as Sepideh Rashno, 28, and was arrested on July 16, where she was beaten by authorities and forced to confess.

The Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) group said the beating was so bad she had to be taken to hospital for "internal bleeding caused by trauma".

The doctor was not allowed to be alone with the patient during the examination process.

Earlier this month, it was reported authorities would begin using facial recognition technology on public transport to catch women breaking the strict law, as part of a tightening of the rules that have been in place since the revolution in 1979.

Amnesty International said in a 2019 report: "This may sound like a fictional dystopia, but it is not. This is the reality for millions of women and girls in Iran, where the state heavily controls women’s bodies.

"Under the country’s compulsory veiling laws, women and girls – even those as young as seven – are forced to cover their hair with a headscarf against their will. Women who do not are treated as criminals by the state."

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