Amini, 22, died on Friday after falling into a coma following her arrest in Tehran earlier in the week
\nDUBAI
\nProtests persisted on Sunday and #MahsaAmini became one of the top hashtags ever on Persian-language Twitter as Iranians fumed over the death of a young woman in the custody of morality police enforcing strict hijab rules.
\nAmini, 22, died on Friday after falling into a coma following her arrest in Tehran earlier in the week. The case has put a spotlight on women\u2019s rights in Iran.
\nPolice rejected suspicions aired on social media that she was beaten, saying she fell ill as she waited with other detained women.
\n\u201cAuthorities have said my daughter suffered from chronic medical conditions. I personally deny such claims as my daughter was fit and had no health problems,\u201d Amini\u2019s father told pro-reform Emtedad news website on Sunday.
\nHundreds of protesters gathered on Sunday around the University of Tehran, shouting \u201cWoman, Life, Freedom\u201d, according to online videos.
\nReuters could not verify the footage.
\nA newspaper with a cover picture of Mahsa Amini, a woman who died after being arrested by the Islamic republic\u2019s \u201cmorality police\u201d is seen in Tehran, Iran September 18, 2022. REUTERS
\nUnder Iran\u2019s sharia, or Islamic law, women are obliged to cover their hair and wear long, loose-fitting clothes. Offenders face public rebuke, fines or arrest. But in recent months activists have urged women to remove veils despite the hardline rulers\u2019 crackdown on \u201cimmoral behaviour\u201d.
\nSurging hashtag
\nBy Sunday afternoon the Persian hashtag #MahsaAmini had reached 1.63 million mentions on Twitter.
\nAmini was from the country\u2019s Kurdistan region, where there were also protests on Saturday, including at the funeral in her hometown Saqez.
\nBetween 8 to 10 million Kurds live in Iran. Iran\u2019s Revolutionary Guards have put down unrest in the country\u2019s Kurdish areas for decades, and the hardline judiciary has sentenced many activists to long jail terms or death.
\nPolice repressed the demonstrations in Saqez. According to videos posted online at least one man had a head injury. Reuters could not authenticate the videos.
\nBehzad Rahimi, a member of parliament for Saqez, told the semi-official ILNA news agency that a few people were wounded at the funeral. \u201cOne of them was hospitalised in the Saqez Hospital after being hit in the intestines by ballbearings,\u201d he said.
\nKurdish rights group Hengaw said, however, that 33 people were injured in Saqez. Reuters could not independently confirm the number.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Amini, 22, died on Friday after falling into a coma following her arrest in Tehran earlier in the week DUBAI Protests persisted on Sunday and #MahsaAmini became one of the top hashtags ever on Persian-language Twitter as Iranians fumed over the death of a young woman in the custody of morality police enforcing strict hijab […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":284381,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[10697,10696,1227],"class_list":{"0":"post-284376","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","8":"tag-fury-grows","9":"tag-hijab-arrest","10":"tag-iran"},"yoast_head":"\n