Protests in Iran

Iran’s Supreme Leader has blamed the US and Israel for unrest in the country following the death of a woman in police custody. 

Photo: atalayer.com

By Sam Feierabend

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei claims that riots had been engineered by enemies of Iran and their allies. The current protests are the biggest challenge for those ruling Iran in over a decade. They started following the detaining of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini who fell into a coma just hours after arrest on 13 September.  

Her arrest came for allegedly breaking the strict law requiring women to cover their hair with hijab. She died just three days later. Her family allege that her death came as a result of police brutality, banging her head against their vehicles.

 

Since her funeral, women have led the protests, waving their headscarves aloft with some even setting theirs on fire and chanting “Women, life, freedom”. This went further for many even going as far as to chant “Death to the dictator”. 

The Ayatollah asserted that the riots had been caused by foreign powers because they could not tolerate Iran attaining strength in all spheres. This is not the first time that he has blamed protests against his regime on foreign influence, claiming that his security forces had faced ‘injustice’ during the unrest. 

However, a human rights group has said that at least 133 people have been killed by the security forces so far in the protests. State media claim this number is only 40. 

At a time when international relations are at breaking point, leaders waving accusations at others will do nothing to heal this injustice to women.