IRGC: Riots over young woman’s death ‘plot by anti-revolutionaries, doomed to fail’
The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) has censured violent protests and riots instigated by rabble-rousers over the death of a young Iranian woman after she was taken into a police station, saying such plots are hatched by anti-revolutionary groups and doomed to failure.
The IRGC made the condemnation in a statement on Thursday, following days of unrest that initially broke out in the Iranian capital of Tehran and then spread across the country after a 22-year-old woman from Kurdistan, named Mahsa Amini, died in hospital despite intensive medical care and resuscitation efforts.
Amini, who had been taken to a police station in Tehran to receive educational training on Hijab and dress code rules, was reported to have suddenly collapsed on the ground in the police station and then put into an ambulance to be transferred to the hospital.
Police later released the CCTV footage of the young woman in the station, which fully confirmed the veracity of police reports on her death.
Tehran Police Chief Brigadier General Hossein Rahimi also refuted claims that Amini had been mistreated during the dress code educational session, saying no physical contact happened between officers and the young woman. Iran’s Judiciary officials gave assurances that a thorough investigation into her death was underway.
Despite clarification on circumstances surrounding the death of the 22-year-old woman, violent protests have erupted across the country, leading to attacks on security officers and acts of vandalism against public property as well as police vehicles and ambulances.
“The enemy’s recent plot, which is followed by collecting, unifying, organizing and training all the failed and scattered capacities and equipping them with weapons of violence and Daesh-style behavior, is a vain attempt and doomed to failure,” the IRGC said in the Thursday’s statement.
“The plot has resulted in nothing but shame and disgrace, and it will add another exemplary failure to the list of failures of the … anti-revolutionary front and the enemies of the Islamic Iran,” the statement added.
Expressing sympathy with Amini’s family and relatives, the IRGC called on the Iranian Judiciary to “identify and deal severely and fairly with rumor-mongers and those who spread false news on social media and on the street and who endanger the psychological safety of the society.”
A preliminary investigation carried out by the Iranian Parliament (Majlis) has also ruled out the use of force on the woman, pointing to her medical history and a brain surgery years ago.
Following days of violent protests, the Iranian Health Ministry announced on Thursday that 61 ambulances have been destroyed during the recent riots in several cities across the country.
Describing the attacks on ambulances as an inhumane act and demanding that rioters be held accountable, the ministry said the move had disrupted emergency health services and the treatment process of patients.
