Iran says investigating woman’s death, rebuffs US calls for accountability

By Syed Zafar Mehdi
TEHRAN, Iran (AA) – Iranian authorities have launched an investigation into the death of a 22-year-old woman in police custody, the country’s foreign minister said, rebuffing US calls for accountability.

In a tweet on Tuesday, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian termed Mahsa Amini's death as "tragic" and said she was "just like our own daughters".

The top Iranian diplomat took strong umbrage to a statement issued by the White House, asserting that human rights are of "inherent value" to Iran "unlike those who use it as a tool against adversaries".

"Instead of shedding crocodile tears, US must end #EconomicTerrorism," he wrote.

Amini was on Friday taken to a police station in Tehran by members of the morality police for alleged violation of the Islamic dress code.

Inside the police station, the 22-year-old woman fainted in mysterious circumstances and was later pronounced dead at a Tehran hospital, according to a CCTV footage released by the police.

In a statement on Monday, the White House National Security Council termed the Iranian woman's death as an "appalling and egregious affront to human rights.”

"Women in Iran should have the right to wear what they want, free from violence or harassment. Iran must end its use of violence against women for exercising their fundamental freedoms," said the Council’s spokesman, calling for "accountability" into her death.

On Friday, soon after the news broke out, US special envoy on Iran, Robert Malley, described the incident as "appalling".

"Iran must end its violence against women for exercising their fundamental rights. Those responsible for her death should be held accountable," he tweeted.

At a weekly presser in Tehran on Monday, Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani dismissed remarks by US officials on the young woman's death, calling it "intervention" in Iran's domestic affairs.

"If the US government is concerned about the Iranian nation, it should lift its decades-old oppressive, unilateral, illegal siege against it," Kanaani said.

The capital Tehran and other major Iranian cities have been rocked by angry protests in the past few days over Amini's death, with protesters calling for justice and accountability.

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi has asked the interior ministry to investigate the incident as protests continue to grow louder.

Police say the young woman died of cardiac arrest but her family alleges that Amini had no medical history and was in good health.

Iran's top judiciary official, Mohseni Ejei, in a statement on Monday said he has ordered the country's judicial bodies of conducting a "thorough investigation" into the case.

On Tuesday, Iran's Parliament Speaker Baqer Ghalibaf also reacted to the incident, saying the assembly has put the investigation into Amini's death on top of its agenda, as well as a review of the morality police's methods to prevent such incidents in the future.