On Sept. 29, City Hall was illuminated with the message “Justice for Mahsa Amini,” in honor of the life and legacy of a 22-year-old Iranian woman who died in police custody in Iran.
On Sept. 13, Amini was with her family at a train station in Tehran when she was approached by the Guidance Patrol, also described as the morality police. That unit is in charge of enforcing a strict Islamic code which prohibits wearing tight clothing and loose headscarves. They detained Amini, accusing her of violating clothing regulations and took her to a detention center. On Sept. 16, Amini later died in the hospital after falling into a coma. The official explanation was that Amini died of a heart attack after collapsing at the detention center, but witnesses and family believe that she was brutally beaten to death by officers. Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi has vowed to investigate.
