Mahsa Amini’s father, Amjad Amini, was reportedly temporarily detained by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards today to prevent a memorial service for her, who died in police custody exactly one year ago.
According to the human rights organization Hengaw, Amini was arrested this morning, but he has since been released, reports the German news agency DPA.
The Iranian authorities did not confirm the detention, but the Iranian state media described the news of the detention as false.
Kurdistan Human Rights Network, based in Paris, also announced on the X social network that Amini was released.
22-year-old Mahsa Amini, an Iranian of Kurdish descent, died in police custody on September 16 last year. She was arrested by the morality police for allegedly improperly wearing a hijab headscarf.
Her death sparked a wave of mass protests in Iran. These were initially aimed at the mandatory dress code for women, but soon grew into anti-government demonstrations, or open opposition to the religious-autocratic regime in the Islamic Republic.
Hundreds of people were killed during the months-long protests, including dozens of members of the security forces.
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi on the eve of the anniversary of Amini’s death in the city of Mashhad, he met with the families of members of the security forces who were killed during mass protests, Iranian media reported. “Raisi met with families of security advocates,” the reporting of the Iranian news agency IRNA is summarized by the French news agency AFP.
In doing so, he saluted Raisi “the shameful failure of the enemy’s project aimed at destabilization“Iran.
Today, the Iranian authorities arrested several individuals allegedly linked to separatist groups in Iranian Kurdistan. They are accused “planned creation of uncertainty” and content production for “hate media”reports AFP.
New Western sanctions against Iran
A year after the death of Mahsa Amini, the West imposed new sanctions against Iran. The US imposed additional sanctions against 25 Iranian officials, three media outlets and an internet censorship company.
The US has imposed sanctions against senior regional representatives of the police and the Revolutionary Guard. Sanctions were also introduced against the head of the Iranian prisons organization Golamali Mohammadi, which the US Treasury Department accuses of human rights violations including torture and rape.
The USA also included the state television Press TV and the news agencies Tasnim and Fars on the list of sanctioned ones, reports the French news agency AFP.
Before the anniversary, the European Union also introduced new sanctions against four representatives of Iran and six Iranian institutions.
The United Kingdom, in coordination with Canada and Australia, imposed sanctions on Iran’s Minister of Culture on Friday To Mohamad Mehdi Esmaili, to his deputy Mohamad Hashemi, the Tehran one to Mayor Alireza Zakani and a spokesman for the Iranian police Saed Montazer Al Mahdi.
Tehran: Sanctions are illegal and undiplomatic
A spokesman for the Iranian Foreign Ministry Nasser Kanani on Friday evening called the new sanctions illegal and undiplomatic. As he said, this is a show of support for anti-government protests “absurd and hypocritical,” and he called on European diplomats to stop unconstructive actions that do not serve their interests.
Source: Rtvslo
