Thursday , 28 March 2024

Live Updates: Head of Tehran Morality Police Fired Over Mahsa Amini Tragedy

Iranwire – A general strike has been declared in several cities in Iran’s West Azerbaijan and Kurdistan provinces in reaction to the death of Mahsa Amini.

The nationwide Free Workers’ Union has published videos of shuttered stores and offices in Marivan, Mahabad, Sanandaj, Urmia, Bukan, Baneh, Ashnoye, Piranshahr and Saqqez, the 22-year-old’s hometown.

Some business owners in Kermanshah and Javanrood have also joined in the day of mourning. As in previous days, people have also taken to the streets in some cities, chanting “Woman, life, freedom” and “Don’t be afraid, we are all together”.

Mahsa, known as Zhina to her loved ones, was rushed to hospital in a coma two hours after she was abducted off the street and taken for “re-education” by Tehran’s “morality patrol”. She was on holiday in the capital at the time, and was wearing a headscarf.

The young woman’s death on Friday sparked horror and outrage across Iranian society, with several remarking that Mahsa had in effect been killed by fanatics for her hair.

Protests have taken place every day since then, while a campaign to abolish the regime’s mandatory hijab rule is gathering pace. Some online firms that design, produce and sell shawls and scarves have announced a temporary half to business.

The Cooperation Center of Iranian Kurdistan’s Political Parties announced the general strike on Monday and asked citizens all over Iran to join in.

Protest Continue Despite Suppression

Monday’s protest actions come after scattered threats to business owners from security agencies, and a near-total internet shutdown in Saqqez and Sanandaj, where a number of people have been arrested. On Sunday night, as well as tear gas and live ammunition, security forces turned water cannons on the protesters in both cities.

Student activists at some universities in Tehran, including Sharif University of Technology and Amir Kabir University, also held rallies this afternoon. Students at the Tehran University of Art also held a candlelit vigil.

Live Updates: Head of Tehran Morality Police Fired Over Mahsa Amini Tragedy

Part of the statement shared by Amir Kabir students read: “When the morality patrol, as one of the government’s most violent forces, commits heinous, inhuman acts and are endorsed by corrupt leaders, this is the result. People are covered up with a black shroud – again.” Mahsa Amini, they further said, was “a symbol of 43 years of repression and brutality”.

Students at Allameh Tabatabai University sang the popular song “Join Me Dear” to encourage their peers to protest, and chanted slogans against mandatory hijab.

Tehran Morality Police Chief Fired

The head of the morality patrols – full name the Moral Security Police – in Tehran has been dismissed, according to the newspaper Hamamihan. Named only as Colonel Mirzaei, the officer was said to have been away on Arbaeen pilgrimage in Iraq at the time of Mahsa Amini’s arrest.

In a press conference around the same time as the news broke, Chief Justice Gholamhossein Mohseni Ajei said the government would “not give a free pass to  the mistakes of government officials and agents, including the police force” in its “investigation” into Mahsa Amini’s death. “Whatever the outcome is, action will be taken without hesitation,” he said.

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