Death of Mahsa Amini

Death of Mahsa Amini
Date16 September 2022
LocationTehran, Iran
Also known asDeath of Jina Amini
OutcomeMahsa Amini protests
BurialSaqqez, Kurdistan Province, Iran

On 16 September 2022, 22-year-old Iranian woman Mahsa Amini,[a] also known as Jina Amini,[b][1][2][3] died in a hospital in Tehran, Iran, under suspicious circumstances. The Guidance Patrol, the religious morality police of Iran's government, arrested Amini for allegedly not wearing the hijab in accordance with government standards. The Law Enforcement Command of the Islamic Republic of Iran stated that she had a heart attack at a police station, collapsed, and fell into a coma before being transferred to a hospital.[4][5] However, eyewitnesses, including women who were detained with Amini, reported that she was severely beaten and that she died as a result of police brutality,[6][7][8] which was denied by the Iranian authorities.[9] The assertions of police brutality, in addition to leaked medical scans,[10] led some observers to believe Amini had a cerebral hemorrhage or stroke due to head injuries received after her arrest.[11]

Amini's death resulted in a series of protests described by CNN as more widespread than the protests in 2009, 2017, and 2019,[12] and by The New York Times as the largest Iranian protests since at least 2009.[13] Some female demonstrators removed their hijab or publicly cut their hair as acts of protest.[14] Iran Human Rights reported that by December 2022 at least 476 people had been killed by security forces attacking protests across the country.[15][16] Amnesty International reported that Iranian security forces had, in some cases, fired into groups with live ammunition and had in other cases killed protesters by beating them with batons.[17] Amini's death ignited the global Woman, Life, Freedom movement, rooted in her Kurdish background, which demands the end of compulsory hijab laws and other forms of discrimination and oppression against women in Iran.[18]


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  1. ^ "Fury in Iran as young woman dies following morality police arrest". BBC News. 16 September 2022. Archived from the original on 17 September 2022. Retrieved 11 December 2022.
  2. ^ Roth, Artemis Moshtaghian, Jomana Karadsheh, Caitlin Hu, Kathleen Magramo, Sahar Akbarzai, Richard (24 September 2022). "Young Iranians are rising up against decades of repression -- arguably bolder than ever". CNN. Archived from the original on 27 December 2022. Retrieved 11 December 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  3. ^ "Mahsa Amini's brutal death may be moment of reckoning for Iran". the Guardian. 20 September 2022. Archived from the original on 21 September 2022. Retrieved 11 December 2022.
  4. ^ "Three killed in protests over Iranian woman Mahsa Amini's death in custody". Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. 20 September 2022. Archived from the original on 20 September 2022. Retrieved 22 September 2022.
  5. ^ "Arrest by hijab police leaves woman comatose". Al-Monitor. 15 September 2022. Archived from the original on 18 September 2022. Retrieved 22 September 2022.
  6. ^ Mehsa Amini's death "due to injury to the skull"; A former IRGC commander informed about the forensic report Archived 13 June 2023 at the Wayback Machine, BBC News, 29 September 2022
  7. ^ Fazeli, Yaghoub (16 September 2022). "Iranian woman 'beaten' by police for 'improper hijab' dies after coma: State media". Al Arabiya. Archived from the original on 16 September 2022. Retrieved 16 September 2022.
  8. ^ "IranWire Exclusive: Morality Patrol Beats a Woman into a Coma". Iranwire.com. 15 September 2022. Archived from the original on 24 September 2022. Retrieved 18 September 2022.
  9. ^ "Iranian coroner denies Mahsa Amini died from blows to body". Al Jazeera. Archived from the original on 8 October 2022. Retrieved 13 October 2022.
  10. ^ "Mahsa Amini's medical scans show skull fractures caused by 'severe trauma': Report". Al Arabiya. 19 September 2022. Archived from the original on 24 September 2022. Retrieved 22 September 2022.
  11. ^ Brase, Jörg (20 September 2022). "Irans Opposition hat vor allem eine Schwäche" [Above all, Iran's opposition has one weakness]. ZDF (in German). Archived from the original on 24 September 2022. Retrieved 22 September 2022.
  12. ^ "A barrier of fear has been broken in Iran. The regime may be at a point of no return". CNN. 5 October 2022. Archived from the original on 6 October 2022. Retrieved 10 October 2022.
  13. ^ Fassihi, Farnaz (24 September 2022). "Iran Protests Surge to Dozens of Cities". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 2 October 2022. Retrieved 3 October 2022.
  14. ^ "Iranian women burn their hijabs as hundreds protest death of Mahsa Amini". CNN. 21 September 2022. Archived from the original on 24 September 2022. Retrieved 10 October 2022.
  15. ^ "At Least 100 Protesters Facing Execution, Death Penalty Charges or Sentences; At Least 476 Protesters Killed". iranhr.net. Archived from the original on 27 December 2022. Retrieved 28 December 2022.
  16. ^ "Women Students Tell Iran's President to 'Get Lost' as Unrest Rages". VOA. October 2022. Archived from the original on 10 October 2022. Retrieved 10 October 2022.
  17. ^ "Amnesty: Iran Ordered Forces to 'Severely Confront' Protests". VOA. 2022. Archived from the original on 11 May 2023. Retrieved 10 October 2022.
  18. ^ "Woman, Life, Freedom | Iran, Movement, History, & Jina Mahsa Amini". Encyclopedia Britannica. 20 October 2023. Archived from the original on 17 October 2023. Retrieved 22 November 2023.