Iranian woman, seen tying uncovered hair at protest, shot dead: Reports

Hadis Najafi, the young Iranian woman seen tying her uncovered hair in a video of the protests that went viral, has been reportedly killed by Iranian security forces during demonstrations in the city of Karaj.

The 20-year-old with the blonde-coloured hair, who became an online symbol of the protests against the death of Mahsa Amini in Iran, died of multiple gunshot wounds, reports in Newsweek and news.com.au said.

The reports said she was shot in the abdomen, neck, heart and hand. A video of her funeral has gone viral, which showed people weeping over a photo of her on a freshly dug grave. The video was tweeted by Masih Alinejad, an activist who has been at the forefront of the protests.


Najafi, nicknamed 'the ponytail girl', was among many other Iranian women boldly facing police officers with hair uncovered to protest the death of 22-yr-old Amini who died in custody after being held by the morality police for not wearing her hijab properly.

Deadly unrest has rocked Iran since the death of Amini on September 16, with hundreds of people also protesting over the weekend.

Medical evidence showed the young woman from the Iranian province of Kurdistan suffered several violent blows to the head, which put her into a coma. However, Iran's authorities claim she "suffered a sudden heart attack," reported Euronews.

Following the 1979 Islamic Revolution, women are required by law to wear the hijab in Iran. Those who are opposed to it wear the headscarf loosely around their ears or let it drop to the neck.

Fars news agency's latest report said that "around 60" people had been killed in the two weeks of protests, up from the official toll of 41 authorities reported on Saturday.

Iran's police has warned that the force would oppose the protesters with all their might, calling them counter-revolutionaries and hostile elements.

Chants against Iran's supreme leader and the Islamic Republic have been a regular feature at the protests, with many Iranians shouting "down with the dictator."