World
Vandals in Iran deface Mahsa Amini grave
Vandals in Iran have defaced the grave of Mahsa Amini who died last September in police custody, the BBC reported on Tuesday.
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Photos from her family show pane of glass that covered Amini’s tombstone smashed in Achi cemetery in the western city of Saqqez where she is buried. Her brother posted on Instagram that it was the second such attack in recent months, according to the broadcaster.
“Even the glass of your tombstone bothers them,” her brother Ashkan Amini wrote, without directly blaming anyone for the vandalism. “No matter how many times they break it, we will fix it. Let’s see who gets tired first.”
Amini, died on September 16 aged 22, shortly after being arrested by the morality police in Tehran for allegedly breaching the country’s strict dress rules for women. Her death triggered months of nationwide anti-regime protests that eventually subsided due to a deadly crackdown by authorities.
The demonstrations rapidly escalated into calls for the overthrow of the theocracy that has ruled Iran since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
The protests have largely subsided in recent months, though there are still sporadic acts of defiance, including the refusal of some women to wear the mandatory headscarf.
Iran has executed a total of seven people in connection with the protests. Rights groups say they and several others who were sentenced to death were convicted by secretive state security courts and denied the right to defend themselves.
The latest executions took place on Friday when Iran executed three men accused of deadly violence during last year’s protests.
Authorities say they killed a police officer and two members of the paramilitary Basij group in Isfahan in November during the demonstrations.
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