The death of 22-year-old Amini while in police custody sparked three weeks of nationwide unrest, marking the biggest challenge to Iran’s clerical leaders in years. Her father said she suffered bruises to her legs and has blamed the police for her death. The coroner’s report said her death “was not caused by any blow to the head and limbs.” He did not say if he was injured. Amini was arrested in Tehran on September 13 for “improper clothing” and died three days later. Referring to the day Amini collapsed in custody, the coroner said she had briefly regained consciousness but that “CPR was ineffective in the first critical minute, resulting in brain damage”. The report noted pre-existing medical conditions linked to a brain tumor for which he had undergone surgery when he was eight years old. “He died due to multiple organ failure caused by cerebral hypoxia,” it said.
Police refusal
Police, who have imposed strict dress codes since Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution, denied he was injured, previously saying he had suffered a heart attack. Her family denies she had heart problems. The government ordered an inquest into her death. During the nationwide demonstrations, protesters destroyed symbols of the Islamic Republic and called for the downfall of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Human rights groups say more than 150 people have been killed, hundreds injured and thousands arrested in a crackdown by security forces. Women cut their hair in solidarity with Iranian protesters: The government has described the protests as a conspiracy by Iran’s enemies, including the United States, blaming armed dissidents – among others – for violence in which at least 20 members of the security forces have reportedly been killed. State television broadcast a mass funeral in Tehran on Friday for a member of the Basij – a volunteer militia deployed to quell the unrest – saying he had been stabbed by protesters. “We know our main enemies. You are upstarts and mercenaries of Israel, America and Zionism and you can’t do anything in this country except set garbage cans on fire,” a woman at the funeral said in comments on state television, criticizing the protesters. Analysts do not believe the clerical establishment is close to being overthrown, despite growing frustration with the strict social and political restrictions imposed over the past four decades since the fall of the US-backed shah.
