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Grave of Mahsa Amini Vandalized in Iran, Says Lawyer

A portrait of Mahsa Amini is held during a rally calling for regime change in Iran following the death of Amini, a young woman who died after being arrested in Tehran by Iran's notorious "morality police," in Washington, on Oct. 1, 2022. (AP)
A portrait of Mahsa Amini is held during a rally calling for regime change in Iran following the death of Amini, a young woman who died after being arrested in Tehran by Iran's notorious "morality police," in Washington, on Oct. 1, 2022. (AP)
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Grave of Mahsa Amini Vandalized in Iran, Says Lawyer

A portrait of Mahsa Amini is held during a rally calling for regime change in Iran following the death of Amini, a young woman who died after being arrested in Tehran by Iran's notorious "morality police," in Washington, on Oct. 1, 2022. (AP)
A portrait of Mahsa Amini is held during a rally calling for regime change in Iran following the death of Amini, a young woman who died after being arrested in Tehran by Iran's notorious "morality police," in Washington, on Oct. 1, 2022. (AP)

The grave of Mahsa Amini, the young Iranian Kurdish woman whose death sparked a protest movement that rattled Iran's clerical leadership, has been vandalized, according to activists and the family lawyer.

Amini, 22, died in September after being arrested by Tehran's morality police for purportedly flouting the strict dress rules for women in the country.

The protests that began after her death challenged the religious system that has ruled Iran since the 1979 revolution. They have weakened in amplitude over the last months, but actions still continue.

Amini, who had been visiting Tehran with her family, is buried in her hometown of Saqez in Iran's Kurdistan province with activists alleging the authorities are determined to prevent any public rallying around it.

The France-based Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) said that the grave, which features her Kurdish name Zhina in large Persian letters, had been attacked on the morning of May 21.

Images published on social media, said to be from the Instagram account of her brother Ashkan, showed that the glass protecting a portrait of Amini at the head of the tombstone had shattered.

"Sadly, on Sunday morning, people who are already known to us, and who have done the same things in the past, attacked the grave of Zhina Mahsa Amini," the family's lawyer Saleh Nikbakht said in a statement published by KHRN.

He did not specify who these individuals were, while adding the authorities had previously intervened to prevent the construction of a protective canopy over the grave.

"So the glass of your tombstone also bothers them? Let them break it a thousand times, we will make it again, let's see who gets tired," Ashkan Amini said in his social media post.

Amini's family and supporters maintain she was killed by a blow to the head while in police custody although the authorities have so far insisted her death was caused by a heart attack brought on by previous ill health.

Activists accuse the authorities of suppressing the protests with a crackdown that has left over 500 dead, according to Norway-based NGO Iran Human Rights.

Iran has also hanged seven men in protest-related cases in what campaigners describe as a deliberate policy to create a climate of fear thorough capital punishment.

Amnesty International warned this week another seven men are at risk of being executed in connection with the protests.

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Pope Francis, Starting Fourth Week in Hospital, Showing Improvement, Vatican Says

This photograph shows the Gemelli Hospital where Pope Francis is hospitalised, in Rome, on March 8, 2025.
This photograph shows the Gemelli Hospital where Pope Francis is hospitalised, in Rome, on March 8, 2025.
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Pope Francis, Starting Fourth Week in Hospital, Showing Improvement, Vatican Says

This photograph shows the Gemelli Hospital where Pope Francis is hospitalised, in Rome, on March 8, 2025.
This photograph shows the Gemelli Hospital where Pope Francis is hospitalised, in Rome, on March 8, 2025.

Pope Francis is showing a "good response" to his treatment in hospital for double pneumonia and his overall condition is gradually improving, the Vatican said on Saturday.

Francis, 88, has been in Rome's Gemelli hospital for more than three weeks with a severe respiratory infection that has required continuously evolving treatment.

"The clinical condition of the Holy Father in recent days has remained stable and, consequently, indicates a good response to the treatment," the latest detailed medical update said.

The pope, it said, has continued to have no fever and his blood tests have remained stable.

Although the doctors said they had seen "a gradual, slight improvement" in the pope's overall condition, they maintained a guarded prognosis "in order to ensure these initial improvements continue in the coming days".

The pope is continuing to receive oxygen to help with his breathing, the Vatican press office said. During the day, he uses a small oxygen hose under his nose. At night, he has been using non-invasive mechanical ventilation as he sleeps.

Francis has experienced several bouts of ill health over the last two years and is prone to lung infections because he had pleurisy as a young adult and had part of one lung removed.

Double pneumonia is a serious infection in both lungs that can inflame and scar them, making it difficult to breathe.

Francis has not been seen in public since entering hospital, his longest such absence since his papacy started nearly 12 years ago.

The pope's doctors have not said how long the treatment might last. He will miss a weekly prayer with pilgrims for the fourth week in a row on Sunday, the Vatican said.

Doctors not involved in Francis' care have said the pope is likely to face a long, fraught road to recovery, given his age and other long-standing medical conditions.

The tone of the updates from the Vatican has been cautiously upbeat in recent days, after the pope suffered what was described as two episodes of "acute respiratory insufficiency" on March 3.

Groups gathered outside Gemelli hospital throughout the day on Saturday to pray for Francis. They placed candles, prayer beads and other items at the base of a statue of the late Pope John Paul II, who was treated at the facility many times over his 1978-2005 papacy.

Maria Neve, from Naples, Italy, left a small bouquet of yellow flowers. "He is an incredible person who gives so much to others, and we, in turn, must give back to him," she said.

Francis, who is known to work himself to exhaustion, has continued to work from hospital. On Saturday, the Vatican announced the appointments of four bishops that would have required his approval.

Francis on Saturday also sent a message to an anti-abortion group in Italy which was undertaking a pilgrimage to the Vatican.

The message, read aloud to the group by Cardinal Pietro Parolin in St. Peter's Basilica, was signed by Francis with a note to say it was sent "from Gemelli hospital".