Iran says Amini died of illness rather than ‘blows’

PARIS: Iran said on Friday an investigation into the death in custody of Mahsa Amini found she lost her life to illness rather than reported beatings that sparked three weeks of bloody protests.

Amini, 22, died on September 16, three days after falling into a coma following her arrest in Tehran by the morality police for allegedly breaching the Islamic republic´s strict dress code for women.

Anger over her death has sparked the biggest wave of protests to rock Iran in almost three years and a crackdown that has killed dozens of protesters and seen scores arrested. Despite security personnel using lethal force, the women-led protests have continued for 21 consecutive nights, according to online videos verified by AFP.

Iran´s Forensic Organisation said on Friday that “Mahsa Amini´s death was not caused by blows to the head and vital organs and limbs of the body”. The death of Amini, whose Kurdish first name is Jhina, was related to “surgery for a brain tumour at the age of eight”, it said in a statement.

Amini´s bereaved parents have filed a complaint against the officers involved, and one of her cousins living in Iraq has told AFP she died of “a violent blow to the head”. Other young girls have lost their lives at the protests, but rights group Amnesty International says Iran has been forcing televised confessions out of their families to “absolve themselves of responsibility for their deaths”.

The mother of 16-year-old Nika Shahkarami, who died after going missing on September 20, insisted on Thursday she was killed by the state after joining an anti-hijab protest in Tehran. Nasrin Shahkarami also accused the authorities of threatening her to make a forced confession over the death of her daughter Nika.