Highlights
- Several Iranian women took to the streets in Western Iran on Saturday.
- They took off their Hijabs as a mark of protest against the death of Mahsa Amini.
- Amini was detained by the 'morality police' for allegedly wearing hijab improperly.
Iranian women protest: Several Iranian women took to the streets in Western Iran on Saturday, and took off their Hijabs as a mark of protest against the death of Mahsa Amini, a woman who died after being detained by the 'morality police'. 22-year-old Amini was allegedly detained over mandatory veiling guidelines. Several Iranian media reports claimed that the Gasht-e Ershad (Guidance Patrol) detained her for wearing the headscarf in an improper way.
Multiple videos that are going viral on social media, showed protesters shouting anti-government slogans after gathering in Saqqez, the hometown of Mahsa Amini as they mourned the 22-year-old who died in a hospital.
A huge crowd of people gathered at the cemetery, chanting "Death to Dictator" slogan, according to videos shared by Iran International English. In Saqqez city the women protestors took their hijabs off to protest the mandatory veiling, media reports said.
Masih Alinejad, an Iranian journalist and activist on her social media account shared the alleged visuals of the protests and wrote, "Women of Iran-Saghez removed their headscarves in protest against the murder of Mahsa Amini 22 Yr old woman by hijab police and chanting: death to dictator! Removing hijab is a punishable crime in Iran. We call on women and men around the world to show solidarity."
As per the dress codes, women across Iran, whether Muslim or not, are supposed to wear the compulsory headscarf, to cover their necks and heads.
As per Al Jazeera, Amini was on a visit to Tehran with her family when she was detained by the specialist police unit. She suffered a heart attack and was immediately taken to hospital with the cooperation of the emergency services.
