On Friday, September 16, Mahsa Amini died from a simultaneous brain and heart stroke after being beaten by the Guidance Patrols [morality police] in Tehran. According to social media activists, the morality police detained her among several girls on Tuesday under the bad-hijab accusation at Haqqani Highway subway station.

“[Police] harshly pushed [the girls] into a police vehicle and transferred them to the morality police station,” eyewitnesses said. “Mahsa’s brother Kiarash tried to save her, but the agents severely beat him and took Mahsa.”

“I heard Mahsa’s cries from inside the station,” Kiarash said.

Following the regime’s atrocity, the detainees’ families rallied outside the station, protesting officials and forcing them to release the girls. In response, authorities dispersed protesting parents and relatives with tear gas and batons.

Eventually, the regime freed some of the detainees. One released girl said the officers severely beat Mahsa, causing her to faint. Afterward, they transferred her to the [Kasra] hospital.

Kasra hospital physicians declared Mahsa’s condition showed signs of being brain-dead two hours later. “Just pray for her,” physicians told Mahsa’s family and relatives. “She suffers from a simultaneous heart and brain stroke.”

“Officials prevented me from filming Mahsa’s tortured body,” said Kiarash. “However, I saw the bruise on her neck and leg.” Leaked footage circulated on social media showed Mahsa was in an intensive condition.

Mahsa’s Tragic Demise Ignited Anti-Regime Protests

At noon on September 16, Kasra hospital officials confirmed that Mahsa had passed away, igniting a new round against the entire regime. Many citizens joined the Aminis outside the hospital, venting their anger over the whole of religious fascism and its horrendous misogynistic measures.

Dozens of citizens rallied outside the Kasra hospital, chanting anti-regime slogans. “Death to [Supreme Leader Ali] Khamenei,” “Death to the dictator,” “Death to the oppressor,” “I’ll kill who killed my sister,” and “Khamenei is a murderer, his rule is illegitimate,” protesters chant.

Authorities dispatched anti-riot forces to quell protesters; however, the citizens resisted. “Death to the dictator,” ordinary citizens chanted on the roofs, recalling the people’s anti-monarchic slogans in the latest months of Shah’s tyranny in 1979.

“The clerical regime’s misogyny takes a toll on Iranian women and girls daily. The brutal beating of Mahsa Amini, a young Kurdish girl, by the so-call ‘moral police’ was outrageous and appalling to every human being,” said Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, the President-elect of the Iranian opposition National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI).

“The resistant and resilient women of Iran will stand up to the tyranny and oppression of the mullahs and the IRGC and defeat them. Iranian people and women will fight back with all their might.” Mrs. Rajavi also called for public mourning after the brutal murder of Mahsa.

Following the protests, the regime significantly restricted the internet in Tehran. “A significant internet outage has been registered in Tehran, #Iran with real-time network data showing connectivity at 67 percent of ordinary levels,” NetBlocks announced. “The incident comes amid protests over the death of Mahsa Amini and may affect coverage of events on the ground.”

Domestic and International Condemnations

The heinous murder of Mahsa Amini raised domestic and international condemnations. “The circumstances leading to the suspicious death in custody of 22-year-old young woman Mahsa Amini, which include allegations of torture and other ill-treatment in custody, must be criminally investigated,” stated Amnesty Iran.

“The so-called ‘morality police’ in Tehran arbitrarily arrested her three days before her death while enforcing the country’s abusive, degrading, and discriminatory forced veiling laws. All agents and officials responsible must face justice.”

U.S. Envoy for Iran Robert Malley sounded his disappointment. “Mahsa Amini’s death after injuries sustained in custody for an ‘improper’ hijab is appalling. Our thoughts are with her family,” he said. “Iran must end its violence against women for exercising their fundamental rights. Those responsible for her death should be held accountable.”

Inside Iran, well-known cinema director Asghar Farhadi described the murder as a crime on his official Instagram page. “This time, I hate myself. You have slept on a hospital bed, but you are more awake than every one of us,” he wrote. We are all in coma state and made ourselves asleep against this endless tyranny, and we are shared in this crime.”

On his Instagram page, former soccer player Ali Karimi slammed officials and their children for enjoying the country’s national resources and best services. “Their children are going, ours dying,” Karimi wrote, pointing out officials’ children’s constant travels to the U.S. and the European States under educational and other excuses.

“Iran’s next Kaveh is a woman,” Karimi had written in another post, mentioning the Iranian ancient hero Kaveh who raised against then-tyrant Zahhak.

Masoud Shojaei, the former Iran national football team captain, condemned the crime. “Her life was sacrificed for a strand of her hair,” he wrote on his Instagram page.