Young Iranian Woman Dies After Being Beaten By Hijab Police

A 22-year-old Iranian woman, identified as Mahsa Amini, died Friday after being severely beaten in the head by the Islamic Republic’s “morality” police. 

The Islamic Republic’s police told Iranian media that Amini suffered a heart attack while detained by morality police, denying reports that she had been beaten. 

Iran International has learned that Amini was not feeling well and had symptoms similar to concussion when she was taken to the Vozara detention center, where the morality police take all those arrested across the capital Tehran. 

According to reports, the young girl – originally from Saqqez in Kurdistan province -- was visiting her relatives with her family in Tehran when she was arrested on Tuesday evening by hijab enforcement officers.

After protest by Mahsa's brother, who was with her when she was arrested, the officers said that they would take her to the Vozara street detentions center for a "briefing class" and will be released after an hour.

Her uncle said on Thursday that his niece’s heart was not functioning properly and her kidneys had failed, adding that her doctors told the family that they cannot do anything for her. 

In recent months government and security agencies have intensified their efforts to pressure women into abiding by the hijab laws and several rounds of anti-hijab civil disobedience campaigns have followed.

Patrols by ‘morality police’ have increased on the streets and videos of violent arrests of women and girls as well as confrontations between people and hijab enforcers.