Muslim women in Kerala burn hijab; show solidarity with Iran's protest [details]

Iran witnesses nationwide demonstrations following the death of a young woman in police custody. The protests started in mid-September after the arrest and death days later of 22-year old Mahsa Amini. She had been held by Iran's morality police for failing to properly cover her hair with a hijab. Now, the southern state of Kerala has joined the Iranian movement. A group of Muslim women birth their hijabs in solidarity with Iran's anti-hijab movement.

The incident took place on Sunday, when Muslim women from the Kerala Yuktivadi Sangam burnt their headscarves in Kerala's Kozhikode following a seminar, titled "Fanos-Science and Free thinking."

Six Muslim women led the protest by burning their hijabs, videos of which have since gone viral on social media platforms. It is believed to be the first such indicted in India. At the protest, the women activists shouted slogans and displayed placards to support Iran's diktat of enforcing hijab on women.

Anti-hijab protests in Iran

Iran's Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) reports that 284 people, including 45 children, have been killed by security forces in the crackdown on protests, which erupted after the death in police custody of a woman accused of wearing her hijab "improperly".

In a widespread protest, women shared several videos on social media taking off their hijabs and burning them and even chopping off their locks. Many videos show women burning their hijabs and cutting their hair. Protesters who have taken to the streets of Tehran show hurling their hijabs in the air, symbolising their protest.

Meanwhile, citizens of 14 countries have been detained in connection with protests in recent weeks by Iran, a media outlet close to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) reported on Wednesday. The report said those arrested include people from United States, Russia, Austria, France, the United Kingdom and Afghanistan.

U.N. human rights officials denounced the Islamic Republic's violent crackdown on anti-government protests as a violation of international law and called on Iranian authorities to end their deadly crackdown against peaceful demonstrators.