According to reports, Iranian security forces shot and killed Hadis Najafi, a 20-year-old who rose to prominence online as a symbol of the demonstrations against Mahsa Amini’s killing in Iran, during protests in the city of Karaj, close to Tehran.
In a video that quickly became popular on social media, Najafi was seen standing in front of Iranian police without a veil, which is against the law in that country. Since 1983, four years after the Islamic revolution of 1979, all women in the nation—regardless of their religion or nationality—are required to wear the hijab in public.
But Najafi, like many other Iranian women in recent days, was seen on tape pulling her hair up with a rubber band while confronting the police.
https://twitter.com/maasalan/status/1573966995447582722
With such a small action, she was sending a powerful message against the law that, according to reports, caused the death of Kurdish woman Amini, 22, who was detained for fatal injuries, at the age of 22.
The “morality police” of the Islamic Republic had jailed her for donning the headscarf “inappropriately.”
Tens of thousands of people in Iran have shown their outrage at Amini’s death by taking to the streets in numerous cities. Protests have gripped the nation for a week, and police and officials have violently reacted to the people.
In protest, several Iranian women have burned their veils and chopped off their hair, placing them at the forefront of the protests.
Hadis Najafi, a 20 year old girl was murdered by the police during #IranProtests. She was shot in the chest, six times. #MahsaAmini pic.twitter.com/eRYXk7nHdv
— Habib Khan (@HabibKhanT) September 25, 2022
According to Amnesty International, security forces killed at least 21 individuals on September 21st, including three children. Although official figures have not yet been made public, Iran’s state media announced on Sunday that a total of at least 41 people had died.
