Who was Mahsa Amini?

Masha Amini was a 22 year old Iranian woman who had gone on a trip with her family to visit the rest of their family in a different part of the country. She was stopped by the morality police, a special force in the police that enforced the strict dress code that was placed on the woman of Iran. The police figured that Amini was not properly wearing her hijab, which is a special headscarf worn by Muslim woman if they chose to wear one. They detained the woman and brought her to the detention center. Only two hours later, she was brought to the hospital, where she was later pronounced dead.

If you look at the CCTV footage, it appears as though a woman, most likely Amini, faints abruptly after speaking to an officer. Her family states she was a normal, perfectly healthy girl, so her suddenly fainting must’ve been from something the police did to her while detained. On the other hand, the autopsy report says she suddenly fainted due to the fact she, “…developed a disorder in her heart rhythm and suffered from a decrease in blood pressure” because of a heart procedure she had when she was 8.

The effects of a death

After Amini’s funeral on September 17th, protests swept the nation. Women were seen removing and burning their hijabs or tearing down photos of Ali Khamenei, Iran’s Supreme Leader, while chanting “Death to the dictator”. The protestors can also be heard chanting “Women, life, freedom” and “We are the children of war. Come on and fight, we’ll fight back” during the demonstrations. Some of the protests have been dubbed “flash protests” because of the quick nature they form and disperse so that they don’t get arrested. Hundreds of people have been injured and several have died, from civilians to police officers. The Supreme Leader hopes Amini’s family will clear everything up so that the country can return to peace.