Last Friday, 16th of September 2022. Mahsa Amini, 22, from Kurdistan, was visiting Tehran with her brother when she was arrested and beaten brutally by Police in the head. She died after her skull was broken. Ministry of Interior reported that she had epilepsy, and her parents did not know it. Her family denied the report and claimed Mahsa was utterly healthy and Police were responsible for her death. Reported Alarabya News.

Mahsa’s father told Ham-Mihan newspaper: “The only disease she went to clinic was having a cold. She did not have heart disease or epilepsy. The Detention centre showed edited videos of different time scales. There is no footage of my daughter in the police van and the detention centre corridors. “I told them where is the rest you’ve cut?” Father of Mahsa said. “It is what it is”. They answered.”

Later a group of hackers hacked the Kasra hospital system, where Mahsa was hospitalized and published her medical records including CT scan photos of her broken skull.

Doctors say that pictures of Mahsa in hospital and haceked CT scan photoes of her skull confirms skull fracture on the right side of her head caused by severe hard blows. Add picture of mahsa.

The horrific death of Mahsa made the people of Iran very angry, especially women who are deprived of their human rights under Islamic sharia. People of Saqez, where Masha was born, started demonstrations and continued to Kurdistan’s capital city, Sanandaj. Other cities, such as Tehran, joined the last three days. 

Most women started showing reaction to Mahsa’s death first. Many of them burned their scarf on the streets and published in the media. Some cut their hair in protest against Islamic rules, which deprives women of Iran. Katayon Riahi, a famous actress, posted a picture without a hijab and interviewed about the worse situation for Iranian women in Iran. She claimed that women do not have rights and their problems are more extensive than wearing a hijab, while it should be an obvious right to choose how to wear and what to wear. This brutal rule must be changed. Ali Karimi, a famous football player, also supports the women of Iran and helps them to be heard. 

Iranian media is now rife with debate about the accountability of the morality police and whether their violent methods intimidate rather than protect women. While “The controversy is now widening into a dispute not just about the enforcement of the hijab in cities, but the accountability of the morality police, as well as mistrust towards government denials of wrongdoing.” Reported the Guardian.

During the last three days of protest in different cities, Dina Zahraee, ten years old, and Roshana Ahmadi, 19, were shot to death in Tehran, while many were injured, including Kian Derakhshan and Parsa Sehat. Police shot them at the very beginning of the protests. Police opened fire on the people after security forces could not stop people by deploying pepper spray, water pomp and tear gas. 

I tried to interview one of the protesters in Sanandaj, Kurdistan, and my tries failed due to the internet being shut down by the government. Hopefully, I interviewed the mother of a young protester . Faride living in Germany, explained that her son was among the protesters, and police cast tear gas. Her son fainted. Police were pulling him toward the security police’s van when his friends pulled him back and escaped from the street to a hidden place. He was unconscious the whole day. They could not take him to the hospital because security forces were waiting to arrest injured people. After Two days, Farida could talk to his son. “I am hidden now, a local doctor helped me.”

“My heart is with people of Iran. My son is also on the streets. I feel shame to ask him stay home while I see people are coming out to the streets and demand their basic human rights. Other protesters have also mothers. I am so worried but I just pray for him to stay safe. I hope to see the collapse of this Islamic regime in Iran. This is the change that we actually need. Our protests are not just against molarity police which forces hijab but the whole corrupted regime should be removed. They are arresting innocent youths, point their guns toward unarmed innocents and fire. They have banned the internet so no one can hear the voice of Kurdistan. This behavior of security policies is unacceptable. Women should be able to choose whether they want to wear hijab or not.” Says Faride.

What do you think about the future of these protests?

“I am not so hopeful, they have killed many of innocent people before as well. People of Iran need the International support, they should break the silence against what is happening in Iran against us, especially women. If our voices are not heard, the number of deaths will just increase. I am so worried.”

Protests are happening the same time as Ebrahim Raisi, current president of Iran to New York for the UN general assembly. In 1988 when Khomeyni ordered to execute the political prisoners, Raisi was chosen as head of the committee tasked with determining whether prisoners were loyal to the government or not. Human rights activists have already organized protests against the UN assembly too. They call Raisi responsible for Mahsa’s death.

“Article 638 of the Islamic penal code says it is a crime for women to appear in the streets and in public without an Islamic hijab. It is contested whether the police have the arbitrary right to arrest citizens under this code without a court warrant”. Writes the Gauridan.

International newspapers reported the recent protests, and authorities showed a reaction against this law, including Robert Malley, the US special envoy for Iran, asked for justice for Mahsa by arresting of those responsible for her death. Amnesty International also called for an investigation into Mahsa’s death.