New Iran protests over woman's death after 'morality police' arrest

Fresh protests broke out Monday in Iran over the death of a young woman who had been arrested by the "morality police" that enforces a strict dress code, local media reported.

Demonstrations were held in the capital Tehran, including several of its universities, as well in Iran's second city, Mashhad, according to the Fars and Tasnim news agencies.

Protesters marched down Hijab Street -- or "headscarf street" -- in the centre of Tehran denouncing the actions of the morality police, the ISNA news agency reported.

"Several hundred people chanted slogans against the authorities, some of them took off their hijab", Fars said, adding that "police arrested several people and dispersed the crowd using batons and tear gas".

A brief video released by Fars shows a crowd of several dozen people, including women who have removed their headscarves, shouting "Death to the Islamic republic!"

A "similar gathering" took place in the northeastern city Mashhad, the Tasnim agency reported.

The rallies on Monday came a day after police made arrests and fired tear gas in the dead woman's home province of Kurdistan, where some 500 people had protested, some smashing car windows and torching rubbish bins, reports said.

Anger 

Public anger has grown since authorities on Friday announced the death of Mahsa Amini, 22, in a hospital after three days in a coma, following her arrest by Tehran's morality police during a visit to the capital on September 13.

Such police units enforce a dress code in the Islamic republic that demands women wear headscarves in public.

It also bans tight trousers, ripped jeans, clothes that expose the knees and brightly coloured outfits.

Police have insisted there was "no physical contact" between officers and the victim.

Tehran police chief General Hossein Rahimi said Monday the woman had violated the dress code, and that his colleagues had asked her relatives to bring her "decent clothes".

He again rejected "unjust accusations against the police" and said "the evidence shows that there was no negligence or inappropriate behaviour on the part of the police".

"This is an unfortunate incident and we wish never to see such incidents again."

Students rallied, however, including at Tehran and Shahid Beheshti universities, demanding "clarification" on how Amini died, according to Fars and Tasnim news agencies.

A spokesperson for the European Union's foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said Amini's "unacceptable" death was a "killing" following the injuries she suffered in police custody.

The perpetrators must be held accountable and the Iranian authorities must respect its citizens' rights, the spokesperson added in a statement.

Her death has reignited calls to rein in morality police actions against women suspected of violating the dress code, in effect since the 1979 Islamic revolution.

Filmmakers, artists, athletes and political and religious figures have taken to social media to express their anger over the death, both inside and outside the country.

President Ebrahim Raisi, an ultra-conservative former judiciary chief who came to power last year, has ordered an inquiry into Amini's death.

Distraught father 

State television on Friday broadcast a short surveillance video that showed a woman identified as Amini collapsing in the police station after an argument with a policewoman.

Amjad Amini, the victim's father, told Fars that he did "not accept what (the police) showed him", arguing that "the film has been cut".

He also criticised the "slow response" of the emergency services, adding: "I believe Mahsa was transferred to the hospital late."

Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi said Saturday he had received reports that the emergency services had arrived "immediately" at the scene.

"Mahsa apparently had previous physical problems and we have reports that she had undergone brain surgery at the age of five," Vahidi said.

Her father, however, "insists that his daughter had no history of illness and was in perfect health", Fars reported.