A member of the clerical regime’s parliament, in a recent interview with a state-run media outlet, insultingly used the phrase “went to hell” to refer to the state murder of Jina Mahsa Amini.
Jina Mahsa Amini is a young woman who was arrested on September 13, 2022, by the regime’s Guidance Patrol (Morality Police) and went into a coma due to severe beatings and blows to the head, passing away in the hospital on September 16. Her tragic death sparked an explosion of pent-up grief that shook all pillars of the ruling tyranny for six months.
The remarks by Ahmad Aryainejad in an interview with the state-run media outlet Hamshahri drew widespread outrage inside and outside Iran, eventually forcing him to apologize. He claimed that he had uttered this phrase subconsciously and apologized to Jina Mahsa Amini’s parents.
Mr. Amjad Amini and Mrs. Mojgan Eftekhari, Jina’s parents, declared in a joint statement that the insult by this regime parliament member “does not diminish anything from the value and high status of our daughter… May your tongue be severed, you who sent a country ‘to hell’ and have inherited not a shred of reason and wisdom, nor shame.”
More than anything, the lawmaker’s crude attack on Jina Mahsa Amini exposes the deep-seated misogyny, hostility, and entrenched fear the regime holds toward the courageous women and girls leading Iran’s protests.
The humiliating apology of this regime official, following the angry public reaction and the crushing, brave response of Jina Mahsa Amini’s family, showed that the revered legacy of those who gave their lives cannot be tarnished by the crude words of their oppressors.
