Iranian president orders probe of woman’s death in custody

Iran’s president has ordered a probe in the case of a young woman who slipped into a coma while in custody in Tehran and died, state media reported on Friday. The police have said she suffered a heart attack.
According to the state-run IRNA news agency, President Ebrahim Raisi asked Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi to “investigate the cause of the incident with urgency and special attention.”
According to reports on social media, Mahsa Amini, 22, was detained earlier this week by the so-called “morality police” after officers apparently found fault with her headscarf, or hijab.
The headscarf has been compulsory for women in Iran since after the 1979 Islamic Revolution and members of the morality police enforce the strict dress code.
Police said on Thursday that Amini, who was arrested on Tuesday, was taken to a hospital after she allegedly had a heart attack while in custody. Pro-reform news websites quoted an uncle of Amini as saying she had no history of heart disease.