One year ago today, Iranian Masha Amini died in detention, after her arrest by the morality police in Tehran. A death which triggered a vast movement of protests, in favor of rights and more generally individual freedoms in an implacable Islamic Republic. For several months, the demonstrations have lost momentum in the face of a repression that saw 551 demonstrators including 68 children and 49 women killed by security forces, according to the Iranian organization Human Rights (IHR) based in Norway, and more than 22,000 others arrested, according to Amnesty International. Seven men were also executed for acts linked to these demonstrations.
Activists say the crackdown has intensified as the first anniversary approaches, including targeting relatives of those killed during protests to ensure they do not speak out. Family members of at least 36 people killed or executed during the crackdown were questioned, arrested, prosecuted or sentenced to prison in August, the NGO Human Rights Watch (HRW) said.
A tribute to Saqez
“Iranian authorities are attempting to stifle dissent to prevent public commemoration of the death in custody of Mahsa Jina Amini, who has become a symbol of the government’s systematic oppression of women, injustice and impunity,” said Tara Sepehri Far, Iran researcher at HRW. The two journalists who most followed the case, Niloufar Hamedi and Elahe Mohammadi, have been imprisoned for almost a year, while another, Nazila Maroufian, who interviewed Mahsa’s father, Amjad Amini, has been detained Many times.
Amjad Amini told Persian media based outside Iran that he intended to hold the commemoration of his daughter’s death in their Kurdish-populated hometown of Saqez in northern Iran. Media outlets including Prague-based Radio Farda said he was summoned by intelligence officials after the announcement. He was not arrested but one of Mahsa Amini’s uncles, Safa Aeli, was arrested in Saqez on September 5.
A strengthening of the wearing of the veil to come
According to the NGO Hengaw which monitors the situation of the Kurds, the government has sent additional security forces to Saqez and other towns that could become sensitive areas this weekend. “Security forces” were deployed around the Amini family residence in Saqez, Hengaw said on Saturday. The NGO published on cities of the Kurdistan province.
Separately, a bill known as “Support for the Culture of Hijab and Chastity” providing for much harsher penalties for violating existing laws is now before the Iranian Parliament. Amnesty International has accused Iranian leaders of having committed a “litany of crimes under international law to eradicate any challenge to their iron grip on power”, deploring that no official has been the subject of an investigation into the death of Mahsa Amini or into the repression.
On the eve of this anniversary, the United States, Iran’s archenemy, and its Western allies including the United Kingdom and the European Union, imposed new sanctions on Iran due to the repression of protests . By announcing these measures, US President Joe Biden took the lead in international calls for solidarity with the Iranians on the anniversary of Mahsa Amini’s death.