Conflicts & War

Hundreds gather at Mahsa Amini’s grave 40 days after her death police custody

Tehran, Oct 26 (EFE).- Hundreds of mourners and protesters gathered on Wednesday at Mahsa Amini’s grave to mark 40 days since her death in police custody after her arrest for allegedly not wearing her veil correctly.

The event is taking place at Aichi Cemetery, in the city of Saqqez, Kurdistan province, where the 22-year-old girl was from, the Iranian Students News Agency reported.

Commemorating a person’s death 40 days after their passing is a tradition of Iran’s Shiite community and the memorial marks the end of the family’s mourning and is of great cultural importance.

The ritual is taking place even though the provincial governor’s office announced that “the family will not celebrate the ceremony.”

ISNA reported that the ceremony was unfolding “peacefully” and no conflict nor tension had so far erupted between the mourners and the city’s security forces.

The state-back news outlet denied reports that the roads to the field where Amini is buried had been closed.

But activists have shared footage on social media that contradict these claims.

“Woman, life, freedom” dozens of people chanted in the cemetery as many women tore off and waved their veils.

Other slogans included “death to the dictator” in reference to the supreme leader of Iran, Ali Khamenei.

Activist groups have been calling for protests on Wednesday to mark the young woman’s death.

“We call on everyone to demonstrate in the neighborhoods of the universities and the bazaars from 11 in the morning,” the anonymous Youth of Tehran Neighborhoods group said.

Protests gripped several universities on Wednesday, as had happened in previous days.

Amini died on September 16 after being arrested three days earlier by Iran’s so-called morality police for allegedly wearing the Islamic headscarf incorrectly.

Since then, protests in Iran snowballed and the regime retaliated with violent repression.

Hundreds of people attended Amini’s funeral, where many women removed their veils and security forces clamped down on protestors.

The demonstrations are mainly led by young people and women under the slogan: “Woman, live freedom.”

Actions include anti-government slogans and the burning of veils, one of the symbols of the Islamic Republic and something that would have been unthinkable not long ago.

Universities have become one of the main focal points of the nationwide protests, in which some 234 people have been killed so far, according to the Oslo-based NGO Iran Human Rights. EFE

ar-jlr/ch/jt

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