Iranian govt scrambles to contain unrest
Tehran: The large-scale protests against the Iranian government over the custodial death of a 22-year-old Kurdish woman who was arrested by the country's notorious "morality" police for allegedly violating the strict law on headscarves has reportedly spread to about 80 cities and towns.
Hundreds of protesters, mostly women, took to the streets following the death of Mahsa Amini — a Kurd native, chanting anti-government slogans that target the core of the Islamic regime and its Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
The death toll in the violent clashes with security forces has reached as high as 26, Iranian state TV indicated on Friday. The unrest, said to be the worst in recent years, has also spread to about 80 Iranian cities and towns.
At least five security personnel have also been killed and several others injured while trying to confront protesters in Mashhad, Quchan, Shiraz, Tabriz, and Karaj, it added.
Amini's tragic death has fuelled an outpouring of long-simmering anger over restrictions on personal freedoms in the Islamic nation.
In the past days, some protesting women have set their headscarves on fire on the streets in what can be described as an unprecedented act of disobedience, while men burned banners of the Supreme Leader in several towns including religious cities of Qom and Isfahan. Protesters also tore and burned posters of Qaseem Soleimani - the Revolutionary Guard commander who was killed in a US drone strike in January 2020 - in his hometown Kerman. The late commander is celebrated as a symbol of the Iranian regime's strategic power projection in Syria and Iraq.
Iranian law requires all women to wear a head covering and loose-fitting clothing while in public places. The rule has been enforced since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, and it is obligatory for every woman in the country.
Amini from the north-western city of Saqez died in hospital on September 16, after spending three days in a coma. She was with her brother in Tehran when she was arrested by morality police. She fell into a coma shortly after collapsing at a detention centre.
There were reports that police beat Amini's head with a baton and banged her head against one of their vehicles, Acting UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Nada al-Nashif said.
The police have denied that she was mistreated and said she suffered "sudden heart failure". But her family has said she was healthy.
Meanwhile, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi has said the death of a woman in police custody must be "steadfastly" investigated. Speaking on a visit to the UN General Assembly in New York, Raisi accused the West of hypocrisy for raising concerns over Amini's death. Raisi has said that he would not allow the country's security to be "threatened".
"We will not allow people's security to be put at risk under any circumstances," the BBC quoted him as saying, shortly after returning from the UN General Assembly in New York.
He said that Iran's "enemies" wanted to exploit the current unrest. Raisi also said the government would listen to criticism over Amini's death, but would not be influenced by "rioting". The heart-breaking death of Amini has captured immediate attention of the nation, with a woman protester describing the sense of feeling as If we don't become one, we will be taken down one by one."
Mehri, a middle-aged woman sitting at the park with her headscarf taken off and laying on her shoulders, said, "I want to go to the demonstrations but I can't due to my physical condition. But I don't wear my scarf on the streets anymore."
When asked whether she took part in the protests, Zahra, a lady in her 50s, said, what's the point? The blood of our youth is wasted and nothing will come out of it."
