Mahsa Amini’s Family Files Complaint Against Those Responsible for Her Arrest
The defense lawyer for Mahsa Amini’s family says that her parents have filed a complaint against those responsible for her arrest from the moment she was taken to the morality police, through the course of the investigation and her interrogation.
Saleh Nikbakht said to ISNA news agency on Wednesday, October 28: “I, along with my colleague Ali Rezaei, have taken on the representation of the guardians in Mahsa Amini’s case: On Monday, one of us (Mr. Rezaei) appeared at the criminal court and provided explanations to Mr. Shahriiari, the head of the criminal court, and after that the special investigator of the case interrogated the case lawyer, Mahsa Amini’s father, brother, and cousin’s daughter.”
He added: “In this session, we requested from the chief prosecutor and the investigator of the case that, given the special circumstances of the case, necessary and precise investigations be conducted into the manner of arrest through the transfer of Mahsa to Kasraii Hospital, and that all footage and photos of all moments of her arrest and detention at the morality police be made available to us, and we have the right to permanent access to the case file.”
Mahsa (Zhina) Amini, a 22-year-old youth from Saghez, was arrested by guidance patrol officers on September 13 and died three days later due to brain death.
Eyewitnesses to Mahsa Amini’s beating in the guidance patrol vehicle cited this as the reason for her going into a coma.
However, Hossein Rahimi, the head of Tehran police, on September 28 denied any physical contact between guidance patrol forces and Mahsa Amini, but regarding footage from cameras on officers’ uniforms and the patrol van, claimed that guidance patrol uniforms are equipped with cameras but did not have cameras in Mahsa Amini’s case, and the patrol van also did not have a camera.
Mr. Rahimi also claimed that the clothing Mahsa was wearing in the released video was different from what she was wearing at the time of arrest; a claim that Mahsa Amini’s father called a “lie.”
On the other hand, Islamic Republic officials have repeatedly claimed over the past two weeks that Ms. Amini had underlying medical conditions, brain surgery, and epilepsy, all of which have been denied by Mahsa Amini’s family, and they have accused the Islamic Republic of lying.
Ms. Amini’s death has triggered a wave of public protests in the country, and security and police forces have dealt with protesters extensively and violently.
Official statistics on the number of those killed in the protests have not yet been released, but the Iran Human Rights Organization has confirmed that 76 people were killed in protests following Mahsa Amini’s death.
Source: Radio Farda
