The death of Mahsa Amini in the custody of the vice squad is driving people into the streets of Iran. The Interior Ministry now denies police violence. The father of the 22-year-old is outraged.
According to the local police chief, more than 700 people were arrested in northern Iran during protest demonstrations in connection with the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini. “We arrested and detained 739 rioters, including 60 women,” said Gilan provincial police chief Asisiollah Maleki on Saturday. Numerous weapons, ammunition and explosives were also seized during the arrests, the police chief claimed, according to the state news agency IRNA.
According to Maleki, the arrested demonstrators are responsible for injuring more than 100 police officers and damaging public facilities. Threatening the security of Gilan province is a red line for local police, so they will crack down on the protests, the police chief said.
Home Secretary: Police not to blame for Mahsa Amini’s death
According to the Iranian interior minister, the death of 22-year-old Amini was not caused by the police. “The medical examinations and those of the forensic medicine show that there were neither beatings (by the police) nor a fractured skull,” Minister Ahmad Wahidi said, according to the Irna news agency on Saturday. The hasty conclusions in this case and the subsequent protests were therefore based on false interpretations, according to the minister.
Amini was arrested by the vice squad in the capital, Tehran, a little over a week ago for not wearing her headscarf properly according to Islamic regulations and revealing a few strands of hair. At the police station, she fainted and later entered a coma. On September 16, she died in a Tehran hospital.
Police claim Amini went into a coma and died from a heart defect. But critics say she was beaten by the vice squad and died of a brain hemorrhage. This version is vehemently disputed by the police, but led to violent protests across the country directed against the entire Islamic system and its regulations.
Amini’s father vehemently criticized the coroner’s report. His daughter had no heart problems and therefore could not have died of heart failure.
Authorities are not announcing any new casualties
The authorities are currently not providing any new information about the number of people killed in the protests that have been going on for days. There is still no precise information on the number of victims in the demonstrations of the past seven days, according to the Ministry of the Interior. “There are different groups among the victims and therefore exact numbers will only be announced after the investigations,” Interior Minister Ahmad Wahidi said, according to local media on Saturday. However, he confirmed that there were deaths among the demonstrators as well as among the police and security forces. According to the minister, some people attempting to enter “highly secured facilities” were shot dead by security officers.
Iran last confirmed 17 to 20 dead two days ago. Iran’s state television broadcaster IRIB reported 35 dead but added that this number was unofficial and not yet confirmed. According to the human rights organization Iran Human Rights, at least 50 people died.
IRNA news agency, Persian
Source: Stern
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