“Dear Mahsa, your name will become a symbol,” proclaims this Sunday, under the photo of her tomb, the front page of the economic daily Asia in unison with much of the Iranian press dismayed by the death of the young woman detained by the police of morality.
This unit, in charge of ensuring the application of the mandatory Muslim veil in the country, has been criticized on several occasions in recent months for its violent interventions against women suspected of violating the dress code in force in the country since the Islamic revolution of 1979 .
Mahsa Amini, 22, from Kurdistan in northwestern Iran, was visiting the capital with her family when she was arrested on Tuesday by police who enforced strict dress rules for women.
On Friday afternoon, a crowd gathered outside Kasra Hospital in central Tehran, where the girl died after three days in a coma. In Saghez, her hometown where she was buried on Saturday, residents hurled stones at the governor’s seat and shouted hostile slogans.
“social fracture”
On Sunday, almost all of the capital’s press devoted its front page and entire pages to this tragedy.
“The public is shocked and angry at what happened to Mahsa Amini,” noted the reformist Etemad newspaper, saying the nation “has repeatedly witnessed morality police violence.”
The moderate daily Jomhouri Eslami warns of the “social fracture” caused by the “violent behavior” of the police.
Iran Daily, a government publication, accused the reformers “of exploiting people’s emotions by using an unfortunate incident to turn the nation against the government and the president.” The ultra-conservative daily Kayhan noted that “the volume of rumors and lies aroused after Mahsa’s death has increased dramatically.”
“However, the publication of the images of this incident by the police confused the opportunists who wanted to use this incident,” the newspaper said. He is referring to a brief surveillance video broadcast on state television showing a woman portrayed as Mahsa collapsing at a police facility after an argument with an officer.
Tehran police said there was “no physical contact” between the police officers and the girl. Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi has called for an investigation to be opened.
“The nation has expressed its sorrow over Mahsa’s sad death,” wrote the ultra-conservative Javan newspaper.
1.5 million tweets
Numerous filmmakers, artists, figures from sports, politics and religion have expressed their anger on social networks.
The former president and leader of the reformist current Mohammad Khatami called on the authorities to “stop actions contrary to law, logic and Sharia law” and “bring the perpetrators of the incident to justice.”
Grand Ayatollah Assadollah Bayat Zanjani denounced as “illegitimate” and “illegal” all the “behaviors and actions” that gave rise to “this unfortunate and regrettable incident.”
“The Koran clearly prevents the faithful from using force to impose the values they consider to be religious and moral,” he said.
Filmmaker Asghar Farhadi, winner of two Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film, observed that “Mahsa today is more alive than us” because “we are asleep, unanswered to this endless cruelty, we are accomplices in this crime.” .
“Our girls’ hair is covered with a shroud,” several players from the soccer team wrote in a story shared on Instagram. “If they are Muslims, may God make me an infidel,” said Bayer Leverkusen striker Sardar Azmoun.
On Twitter, the #Mahsa_Amini hashtag in Persian was trending No. 1 on Sunday noon with nearly 1.5 million tweets.
Source: BFM TV
