A hard-line Iranian lawmaker Tuesday slammed female protesters who have taken off mandatory headscarves as prostitutes, doubling down on the government stance amid the dramatic demonstrations following the death of a 22-year-old woman detained by the country’s morality police.
The harsh language by Mahmoud Nabavian, a legislator from Tehran, was in sharp contrast to the appeal by a top cleric, Grand Ayatollah Hossein Nouri Hamadani, who on Sunday urged the government to listen to the people’s demands.
The fate of Mahsa Amini, an Iranian Kurdish woman who died in custody after being detained by the morality police — because her headscarf was allegedly too loose — has ignited unrest across Iran. Protests have have spread to at least 46 cities, including the capital of Tehran, towns and villages with scenes of violence and street clashes with security forces unseen for years in Iran.
State TV reported that a police officer died Tuesday in a hospital after being injured by rioters in the town of Robatkarim in Tehran province.
