The Crime of the Morality Police under Raisi’s Government
The crime of the Morality Police under Raisi’s government has sparked such widespread and intense reactions to the painful death of Mahsa Zhina Amini that a campaign titled ‘End the Filth of the Morality Police’ has now started on social media. A doctor on social media, referring to the images of Mahsa on the hospital bed, has dismissed any possibility of a stroke and attributed the cause of death to brain trauma.
What more needs to happen?
Social media is filled with images of the 22-year-old girl who was arrested by the Morality Police for improper hijab while exiting Hakani metro station on Tuesday afternoon and went into a coma two hours later at the Vozara detention center. After a series of incidents in recent months related to the hijab issue and intensified crackdowns, many now ask, what more needs to happen for you to realize the Morality Police should be disbanded?
What else needs to happen for you to understand that your approach to people’s dress is violent? Not long ago, images of a mother blocking the Morality Police’s car and shouting ‘My daughter is sick, don’t take her’ went viral everywhere.
The incident that happened to Mahsa Zhina could have happened then too, and the sick girl might not have withstood the psychological or even physical encounters with the Morality Police officers. That incident and the images and videos of the Morality Police’s violent behavior, which are frequently published, have never influenced a change in the policy direction related to hijab, especially the Morality Police. The policy remains the same.
The Morality Police officers do not tolerate any resistance, and any refusal to cooperate with the officers to board the Morality Police van is met with violent physical confrontation.
Brain Trauma, Not Stroke
Kiarash Amini, Mahsa Zhina Amini’s brother, claims to have seen signs of beating on his sister’s body. Accounts from some other girls present at the scene of the arrest and even accompanying her in the Morality Police van and Vozara detention center also indicate physical encounters by officers in the van with Mahsa and even pepper spray being used on the detainees and their families at Vozara.
Kiarash Amini, in multiple interviews with the media, has reported bruises on his sister’s legs and facial swelling. He said every girl coming out of Vozara would say someone was killed.
A doctor on Twitter, referencing the dried blood on Mahsa Amini’s ear and the bruising under her eye in the image released of her on the hospital bed and under the device, wrote that ear bleeding and bruising under the eye are common signs of a skull base fracture after accidents involving head impact with a hard object or surface, which is diagnosable in forensic medicine.
He, referring to the police statement claiming she had a stroke, wrote that in a stroke, ear bleeding is not observed. He pointed out that what we have is merely a photo, and naturally, a precise diagnosis requires access to the patient’s medical records, but even with this photo, any doctor can differentiate a stroke from brain trauma.
Claim of Conservative Media: She Had a Congenital Condition
However, the Tehran Police Command denies any physical encounter with Mahsa. The Hamshahri Online site, managed by Abdullah Ganji, former editor of Javan newspaper, claimed in a report that the cause of death was a congenital heart condition in Mahsa Zhina, and no physical or violent encounter occurred with her.
Hamshahri, referencing the Tehran Police statement and quoting a police official, wrote that what happened to Ms. Amini was not a conflict, scuffle, or insult, and what occurred was a heart condition during a briefing session at the police station. She, along with other women present, experienced a heart condition and was promptly referred to the infirmary.
This media outlet, quoting an unnamed staff member from Kasra Hospital, also wrote that the girl was brought to the emergency ward in a very bad condition. The doctor said it was a simultaneous heart and brain stroke, and we learned that the police brought her. The girl was young, and heart conditions in young people carry more risk compared to the elderly.
While there had been no news about Mahsa’s cousin being present during her arrest, Hamshahri for the first time mentioned this presence and a statement from her, without a credible source, saying it is claimed Mahsa’s cousin told the police officers that this girl from Sanandaj has a congenital heart condition and requires special attention and should be helped quickly.
Even if this media’s account is accurate, the question still remains before the audience: what fear drove a young girl to the brink of simultaneous strokes? Some users have compared this incident to the case of Zahra Kazemi, whose cause of death was stated as head impact with a hard object.
Silence of Conservatives, Sympathy of Reformists
Conservatives and supporters of mandatory hijab have adopted two approaches in this matter. Main accounts and real identities have generally remained silent and ignored the issue, neither praising nor criticizing the Morality Police.
Their media also emphasize the existence of a congenital condition and stroke due to fear as the cause of death, rejecting any physical violence. However, some anonymous accounts shamelessly defend the Morality Police’s actions, claiming such incidents are the unintended result of not following the law and improper hijab.
Reformists, however, have risen in protest and criticism. For example, Abdollah Ramezan Zadeh wrote, ‘What kind of guidance leads to the death of a person?’ Mahmoud Sadeghi, a former reformist MP who is also a lawyer, asked users on Twitter to share any additional information and evidence about this incident so he can pursue it through legal channels, although the users’ reaction has mostly been to mock him.
They say if all previous complaints and pursuits led to results, this one will too, or that you want to complain to themselves about themselves. Some others have called the reformists accomplices to the thief and friends of the caravan and wrote that you too must answer for all the injustices that have occurred and continue to occur.
This article was published following the news of the Sanandaji girl who went into a coma after being detained by the Morality Police.
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