The NGO Hengaw today denounced the “illegal detention” of Amjad Amini, father of Mahsa Amini, the 22-year-old Kurdish girl who died just a year ago in police custody after being arrested for not wearing her veil properly.
According to a statement issued by the organization on its website, Amjad Amini has been arrested by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard when leaving his home and has been transferred to “an unknown location,” the Europa Press agency reported.
Although Iranian authorities had warned the family not to celebrate the anniversary of their daughter’s death, the Aminis announced that “like any grieving family,” they would go to Mahsa’s grave.
According to the organization, the atmosphere in the city of Saqqez and around the Amini family home and the streets leading to Mahsa’s tomb is “highly militarized” with security forces deployed and armed in the town.
The death of the young Iranian Kurdish woman, on September 16, 2022, unleashed a wave of protests that lasted weeks and during the mobilizations many women took off their Islamic veil, in a gesture of defiance to this Islamic Republic led by the supreme guide, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
The mobilizations lost momentum over the months, appeased by a repression that caused the death of 551 protesters, including 68 children and 49 women, according to the Norwegian organization Iran Human Rights (IHR), and the arrest of more than 22,000 people, according to Amnesty. International.
Seven men were executed for cases linked to those demonstrations.
As a result of these episodes, Iran received strong international condemnation and yesterday the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, the European Union and Australia announced sanctions against several Iranian officials and entities, on the eve of the first year since the death of Mahsa Amini.
After that announcement, Iran attacked those Western powers and described the sanctions as “illegal and undiplomatic actions,” in a statement released last night by the spokesman for the Iranian Foreign Ministry, Nase Kanani.
The spokesperson also condemned the “interventionist actions and statements and the ridiculous and hypocritical” displays of support for the protest movement and said Western diplomats showed “unconstructive behavior” that “does not serve their interests.”
Source: Ambito
