Iranian authorities yesterday prevented the family of Mahsa Amini from holding a ceremony to commemorate the first anniversary of her death, confining her father to his home after briefly detaining him, rights groups said.
Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian Kurd, died a few days after her arrest by religious police for allegedly contravening the strict dress code for women in force since shortly after the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Her family says she died from a blow to the head, but that was disputed by Iranian authorities.
Photo: EPA-EFE
Mahsa Amimi’s father, Amjad Amini, was detained while exiting the family home in the western town of Saqez and then released after being warned not to hold a memorial service at her grave, the Kurdistan Human Rights Network, 1500tasvir monitor and Norway-based Iran Human Rights (IHR) said.
He was not being allowed to leave the family home, with members of the security forces stationed outside, the groups said in separate statements.
“Amjad Amini is under house arrest... Security forces are preventing him from visiting his daughter’s grave,” IHR said.
The official Islamic Republic News Agency described the reports of the arrest as “false,” saying they were aimed at “inciting the population to protest.”
Amjad Amini was already last week summoned by intelligence officials after his announcement that he planned to hold a memorial ceremony. One of Mahsa Amini’s uncles, Safa Aeli, was detained in Saqez on Sept. 5 and remains in custody.
Some reports suggested security forces had blocked access to Mahsa Amini’s grave.
The protests lost momentum after several months in the face of a crackdown that saw security forces kill 551 protesters, according to IHR, and arrest more than 22,000, according to Amnesty International.
Iranian authorities say dozens of security personnel were also killed in what they describe as “riots” incited by foreign governments and hostile media.
Seven men have been executed after being convicted in protest-related cases.
Campaigners say the authorities have renewed their crackdown in the run-up to the anniversary, putting pressure on relatives of those killed in the protests in a bid to stop them from speaking out.
New York-based Human Rights Watch said family members of at least 36 people killed or executed in the crackdown had been interrogated, arrested, prosecuted or sentenced to prison over the past month.
“Iranian authorities are trying to impose a chokehold on dissent to prevent public commemoration of Mahsa Jina Amini’s death in custody, which has become the symbol of the government’s systematic oppression of women, injustice and impunity,” said Tara Sepehri Far, senior Iran researcher at Human Rights Watch.
Kurdish-focused group Hengaw said that people in western Iran were expressing discontent through a general strike, with shops shut down in a dozen towns and cities, including Saqez.
Persian-language channels based outside Iran, including Iran International, broadcast footage of residents shouting “Death to the dictator” and the main protest slogan of “woman, life, freedom” from apartment blocks in Tehran and its satellite city of Karaj overnight.
PALAU LAUNCHES: The source said that Taiwanese military personnel traveled to Palau, where a US brigade watched their work amid plans for a defense network The military last month participated in live-fire launches of MM-104F Patriot (PAC-3) missiles under US observation in an undisclosed location in Palau, a step forward in a US-led plan to create a joint defense missile system in the first island chain, a source said on condition of anonymity. The PAC-3 is the mainstay surface-to-air missile of the US, NATO and democratic nations in East Asia, the source said, adding that it has never been live-tested within Taiwan’s borders, the source said. The proximity of Taiwan to China and China’s close surveillance of the nation’s borders and nearby sea zones is a significant
IN MOURNING: Tsai visited the site and spoke with family members of those killed, while all the major presidential candidates said they would temporarily halt campaigning A fire and subsequent explosions at a golf ball factory at Pingtung Technology Industrial Park (屏東科技產業園區) killed at least seven people, including four firefighters, and injured 98, while three were still missing, authorities said yesterday. The blaze at Launch Technologies Co’s (明揚國際) plant on Jingjian Road raged for more than 12 hours after it started at about 5pm on Friday, officials said. The Pingtung County Fire Bureau early yesterday used large excavators to search for missing people, while family members waited at the scene. Pingtung County Fire Bureau Director Hsu Mei-hsueh (許美雪) said the bureau received a call about the fire at 5:31pm
DETERRENCE: The president on Thursday is to launch the first indigenous submarine, which is to enter sea trials next month before being delivered to the navy next year Taiwan hopes to deploy at least two new, domestically developed submarines by 2027, and possibly equip later models with missiles to bolster its deterrence against the Chinese navy and protect key supply lines, the head of the program said. Taiwan has made the Indigenous Submarine Program a key part of an ambitious project to modernize its armed forces as Beijing stages almost daily military exercises. President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), who initiated the program when she took office in 2016, is expected to launch the first of eight new submarines on Thursday under a plan that has drawn on expertise and technology from
FISHING FUROR: The latest spat was sparked by a floating barrier that was found across the entrance of Scarborough Shoal during a resupply mission to fishers Beijing yesterday warned Manila not to “stir up trouble” after the Philippine Coast Guard said it removed a floating barrier at a disputed reef that was allegedly deployed by China to block Filipino fishers from the area. Scarborough Shoal (Huangyan Island, 黃岩島) in the South China Sea has long been a source of tension between the nations. China seized the ring of reefs from the Philippines in 2012 and has since deployed patrol boats. The latest spat was sparked by a 300m floating barrier that was found across the entrance of the shoal last week during a routine Philippine government resupply mission
RSS