Mahsa Amini death four years on: Iranians reflect on ‘Woman, Life, Freedom’
Amnesty International says Iranian authorities committed crimes against humanity during the 2022-23 protests.
Tehran, Iran – Four years ago this week, Mahsa “Jina” Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian Kurdish woman, was leaving a metro station in Tehran with members of her family when she was detained by the Guidance Patrol, Iran’s morality police, for perceived noncompliance with Iran’s mandatory hijab laws.
Amini’s headscarf had slightly receded from her forehead, so two female and two male members of the morality police put her in a van and transported her to a so-called re-education centre, where she would receive guidance on how to dress in a way deemed appropriate by the authorities.
Security camera footage released by the government showed Amini in the downtown Tehran re-education centre collapsing onto the ground, as a chador-clad policewoman scolded her. She was taken to a nearby hospital and pronounced dead three days later on September 16, 2022.
They were arrested and later released, but their actions opened the way for countless others after them to do the same.