SULAIMANI (ESTA) — The Spokesperson for the White House National Security Council said on Monday said that the U.S. wants accountability for the suspicious death of the Kurdish woman in Iran’s custody last week.
A 22-year-old Kurdish woman Jina Amini was detained earlier last week in the Iranian capital by so-called morality police for alleged violation of the Islamic dress code which is mandatory in Iran for women.
Amini later died in a hospital in Teheran after she was suspiciously slipped into a coma in the custody, local reports said that she was beaten by the police in custody for not wearing Hijab.
Officials in the Iranian police refused Amini’s death because of beating in the custody by the police, saying that she had a heart attack while her family strongly opposed the police sayings, “She was in a good shape with no health problems,” Amini’s father said.
Her death sparked wide outrages across the country, and intensive protests erupted in Kurdish provinces and continued for the third day particularly because Amini was originally from Kurdistan’s Saqqez province in Iran.
Henagw watchdog for Human Rights on Monday reported that at least four people were killed and 75 wounded amid the protests, and children were included among the casualties.
“Mahsa Amini’s death after injuries sustained while in police custody for wearing an ‘improper’ hijab is an appalling and egregious affront to human rights,” the U.S. spokesperson said. “Our thoughts are with Mahsa’s family and loved ones.”
“Women in Iran should have the right to wear what they want, free from violence or harassment. Iran must end its use of violence against women for exercising their fundamental freedoms,” the U.S. official continued. “There must be accountability for Mahsa’s death.”
Many Iranians are now calling for an end to the practice of harassing and detaining women for not observing the hijab rules despite the condemnations of the Kurdish woman’s death, local news outlets said.
Morality police but in origins is Gasht-e Ershad, or guidance patrol, responsible to monitor and enforce the Islamic dress in Iran by women. The hijab has been compulsory for women in Iran since shortly after the 1979 Islamic revolution.
