Protesters first gathered outside Kasra Hospital in Tehran, where Amini was being treated. Human rights groups reported that security forces used pepper spray against protesters and that several were arrested. Amini’s body was then taken to her hometown in Kurdistan province for burial, which took place on the morning of September 17. “The security institutions forced the Amini family to hold the funeral without any ceremony to prevent tensions,” said Soma Rostami of Hengaw, a Kurdish human rights organization. Despite the warnings, hundreds of people have reportedly gathered in Amini’s hometown of Saqqez for the burial. Some shouted anti-government slogans such as “death to the dictator”. Kurdish civil society organizations called for a general strike across Kurdistan. Videos of protesters in Saqqez tearing down posters of Iran’s authoritarian leader Ayatollah Khamenei have gone viral on social media. Amini was visiting Tehran with her family on September 13 when she was arrested by morality police for allegedly violating the country’s strict hijab law. Her family was told she would be released from the police station after a “re-education session”. Witnesses said Amini was beaten in the detention van, a claim police deny. Police maintain that Amini suffered a heart attack, an account of events that is not accepted by Amini’s family. News of Amini’s death comes amid a crackdown on women’s rights orchestrated by the country’s president, Ebrahim Raisi. As in previous protests, Iranian authorities appear to have restricted access to the Internet. Authorities have launched an investigation into Amini’s death, state media reported.
