Featured Image Credit: Twitter
Topics: World News, Iran
Jake Massey
An elderly woman has removed her hijab and screamed 'death to Khamenei' amid ongoing protests in Iran.
There has been unrest in the nation since the death of Mahsa Amini, who passed away in the custody of the so-called 'morality police'.
The 22-year-old was detained on 13 September after officers apparently found fault with her headscarf, or hijab, and the police later claimed she had suffered a heart attack.
Since her death there have been protests across the country, and in one clip, an elderly woman can be seen calling for the death of Iran's supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, with headscarf in hand.
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The headscarf has been compulsory for women in Iran since after the 1979 Islamic Revolution, and members of the morality police enforce the strict dress code.
However, since the death of Amini, women have taken to the streets, cutting off their hair and burning their hijabs.
Videos on social media show protesters in Tehran setting fire to a police car and confronting officers.
In other footage, gunfire can be heard as demonstrators run away from riot police while shouting: "They are shooting at people! Oh my God they're killing people!"
Official figures claim 26 people have died during the riots; however, a report from Oslo-based group Iran Human Rights states that at least 50 people have lost their lives.
Iran has faced international criticism over the death of Amini, and the US – which is trying to revive the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran – called on the Islamic Republic to end its 'systemic persecution' of women.
The UN human rights office said Iran's morality police have expanded patrols in recent months, targeting women for not properly wearing the hijab.
It said verified videos show women being slapped in the face, struck with batons and thrown into police vans for wearing the hijab too loosely.
"Mahsa Amini's tragic death and allegations of torture and ill-treatment must be promptly, impartially and effectively investigated by an independent, competent authority," said Nada Al-Nashif, the acting UN high commissioner for human rights.
Iran has dismissed the criticism as politically motivated.
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