Following the murder of a 22-year-old Kurdish woman while in morality police detention, Iranian government authorities have condemned the fourth day of rallies, alleging the protestors were the victims of an enemy plot.
Mahsa Amini passed away on Friday after being detained by the morality police for not appropriately donning her headscarf and her pants. This terrible incident has sparked outrage in the streets over the unjustified and occasionally harsh treatment of women by this branch of the police.
Local petitions calling for the disbandment of the morality police have begun, arguing that their tactics in enforcing the hijab are unfair and unhelpful.
It is hard to evaluate the severity of the violence and the number of arrests on Monday night on their own. However, social media users recorded recordings of beatings and demonstrations, some of which featured shootings.
One death in each of three protests in the towns of Divandareh, Saqqez, and Dehglan, according to the Kurdish human rights organization Hengaw, which is located in Norway.
In the Kurdistan area, where there had also been a nationwide strike on Monday, it was also said that 221 people had been hurt and another 250 had been detained.
A 10-year-old girl was injured in the town of Bukan but was still alive, according to photographs of her covered in blood that has gone viral on social media.
The UN Human Rights Office in Geneva said that Iran’s morality police had increased its patrols recently, focusing on women for improperly donning the Islamic headscarf, known as the hijab. Verified footage, according to the report, showed women being assaulted with batons, slapped in the face, and hauled into police vans for draping their heads in the hijab too loosely.
“Mahsa Amini’s terrible death and claims of torture and ill-treatment must be immediately, impartially, and properly investigated by an independent competent body,” said Nada Al-Nashif, the acting UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.