She said, “They killed my angel.” in an interview With BBC Persian on Friday.
Police said Amini suffered a heart attack after being taken to a police “education and counseling” center, state media said. Her family insisted she had no previous health problems, and activists confirmed that she may have been beaten by the police. On Friday, as sporadic protests erupted in Tehran over the death, the Interior Ministry ordered the opening of an investigation it said had been ordered by Iranian President Ibrahim Raisi.
The headscarf and other conservative dress, known as the hijab, has been compulsory for women since the 1979 revolution in Iran. Raisi, a hardline cleric who took office last year, called for strict enforcement of the dress code. Guidance patrols have become increasingly assertive of late, with their distinctive green-striped trucks appearing in a series of videos that have gone viral online and sparked outrage — including one from last month that appeared to show a detained woman. is thrown from a speeding car.
else Show the last video A mother stands in front of a truck while her daughter is inside trying to keep her from moving by putting her hands on the hood.
The government crackdown sparked a protest movement over the summer by Iranian women who photographed themselves without headscarves and posted the photos on social media.
Amini, a Kurdish woman from western Iran, was visiting Tehran with her brother when she was arrested, her mother said. It was not clear what triggered police scrutiny of her clothes, but she was arrested as soon as she exited the Tehran metro station.
“My son is begging them not to,” said the mother. “He says, ‘We are strangers in Tehran, we don’t know anyone, don’t take it,'” said the mother. “But they beat my son and took my daughter.”
Video has been moved by Iranian media Friday, Amini allegedly showed up at the police station. In the video, which has been edited, she can be seen in a large hall full of women, sitting for a moment, then approaching another woman looking like an authority figure and pointing at Amini’s clothes, touching her veil before turning away. Amini can then be seen putting her hands to her face, shortly before collapsing into a chair.
Pictures of Amini in the hospital, who is in exile, spread on social media, and provoked sad reactions from activists, celebrities and reformist political figures. In one publication, Asghar Farhadi, a prominent Iranian director, wrote: “We pretend to sleep in front of this endless oppression. We are all accomplices in this crime.”
After her death, security forces clashed with people in front of Al-Kasra Hospital in Tehran, north of the capital, where Amini was treated, according to videos spread on social media. Some videos also showed protesters near Argentina Square chanting against Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Khamenei is a killer. “His government is invalid,” they chanted.
Babak Dehghanpisheh of Phoenix contributed to this report.