Strife after woman in hijab row dies

Protests spread to western Iran at the funeral of a young woman who died after being detained by morality police enforcing strict hijab rules.

The trouble was in Saqez in Kurdistan province at mourning for 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who died in Tehran on Friday.

"Death to the dictator" - a reference to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei - was the chant of a crowd, while women took off headscarves. Police responded with tear gas.

Activists have lately urged women to remove their veils - a gesture to defy the Islamic dress code imposed by Iran's hardline rulers.

Authorities have launched probes into the death of Amini, who according to police became ill among other detained women at a morality police station in the capital.

It was claimed she had a heart attack after being taken to the station to be "educated." But her family deny she suffered a heart condition.