A young Iranian woman, who was in a coma after being arrested by the Islamic republic’s morality police, died on Friday, state media reported.
“Unfortunately, she died and her body was transferred to the medical examiner’s office,” state television reported.
Mahsa Amini, 22, was on a visit to Tehran with her family when she was detained by the specialist police unit that enforces the strict dress code obligatory for women since shortly after the Islamic revolution of 1979.
State television broadcast images on Friday purportedly showing her falling to the ground inside a large hall full of women while arguing with one of the female instructors about her dress.
In a statement on Friday, Tehran police insisted “there was no physical encounter” between officers and Amini.
It said Amini was among a number of women who had been taken to a police station for “instruction” on the dress code on Tuesday.
“She suddenly fainted while with other visitors in the hall,” the statement said.
Earlier, President Ebrahim Raisi ordered the interior minister to open an inquiry into Amini’s case.
Several lawmakers said they would raise the case in parliament while the judiciary said it would form a special task force to investigate.
Amini’s death comes amid growing controversy both inside and outside Iran over the conduct of the morality police, known formally as the Gasht-e Ershad (Guidance Patrol).
In July, a video of a woman standing in front of one of the force’s vans pleading for her daughter’s release went viral on social media.
The veiled woman kept holding on to the van as it pulled off, only being thrown clear after it gathered speed.
The mandatory dress code, which applies to all nationalities and religions, not just Iranian Muslims, requires women to conceal their hair and neck with a headscarf.
Over the decades, women have increasingly pushed back, particularly in the big cities, wearing their headscarves far back on their head to reveal their hair.