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| "I am Mahsa Amini." |
Protests continue across various provinces of Iran following the death of young woman Mahsa Amini while in police custody. On September 20 and 21, street demonstrations were also held in several cities of Iranian Azerbaijan.
According to news sources such as Guney Azerbaijan Television (Günaz TV) and Aznews TV, protesters in cities like Tabriz, Zanjan, Urmia, Qazvin, and Hamedan chanted slogans related to "compulsory hijab, equal rights, and national demands" during demonstrations on Tuesday.
Videos shared on social media from protests in Tabriz show demonstrators, including many women, chanting "Freedom, justice, national government." Protesters also voiced slogans against Iran’s Supreme Leader, Seyyed Ali Khamenei.
On September 20, students at Tabriz University of Medical Sciences also organized a protest. During the demonstration, they held signs with slogans such as "Femicide is political" and "Hands off my body."
According to human rights activists operating in the region, many citizens have been collectively detained during the protests in Iranian Azerbaijan.
Reports indicate that detained protesters in Tabriz have been sent to the intelligence agency’s prison on Saib Street. On Tuesday, political activist Mehdi Hamidi Shafagh was severely beaten by Iranian security forces after being arrested in the streets of Tabriz.
Iranian officials have described the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who was detained by the country's morality police, as an "unfortunate incident." However, as protests have spread to the capital and other cities, claims have surfaced that her death resulted from mistreatment.
Alongside increasing poverty and inflation in Iran, the Islamic Republic has intensified its crackdown on women by emphasizing hijab and morality enforcement. Human rights activists report that police forces and morality enforcement units, particularly during President Ebrahim Raisi’s tenure, have become increasingly harsh in their treatment of the public.
Link to the original text in Turkish on the Azerbaijani section of Voice of America:
Məhsa Əmininin öldürülməsi fonunda İran Azərbaycanında aksiyalar keçirilir