Shabtabnews In this dark night, I have lost my way – Arise from a corner, oh you the star of guidance.
RFL/RE – Amjad Amini, the father of Mahsa Amini, the female student whose death in Iranian morality-police custody nearly a year ago sparked massive protests, was summoned by intelligence officials on September 11 and interrogated for an hour, RFE/RL’s Radio Farda has learned.
One of Amini’s relatives said authorities pressured him not to hold a memorial for his daughter on the first anniversary of her death on September 16.
The source said they also demanded that Amini deny that he and Mahsa Amini’s mother had issued a statement earlier saying they would hold a ceremony to commemorate their 22-year-old daughter’s death.
The relative also said the intelligence officials repeated threats that had emerged in recent months in which they vowed to arrest Amiini’s other child, son Ashkan, in case of any “activity, interview, or speech” from him or any other family members regarding the anniversary.
Iran’s clerical leadership has led a brutal crackdown since Amini’s death in a Tehran hospital on September 16, 2022, days after eyewitnesses reported seeing her beaten during her detention by the so-called Guidance Patrol for allegedly falling afoul of the country’s strict women’s dress code.
Her death sparked defiant protests across the country and a stubborn women’s rights battle that has resonated around the world.
Skeptics dismissed an official report blaming her death on sudden heart failure possibly brought on by a long-term condition.
Despite signs of a further clampdown ahead of the anniversary, Amini’s family reportedly published a text announcing a “traditional and religious ceremony” at Mahsa Amini’s gravesite in her northwestern hometown of Saghez to honor her “martyrdom.”
The notice was addressed to “compatriots” and “brothers and sisters.”
Security and intelligence agencies have since beefed up their presence around the cemetery.
Amini’s brother Askhan last week confirmed that one of her uncles, Safa Aeli, had been arrested in Saghez on September 5.
Authorities also threatened to shut down several university student associations as part of the sweeping crackdown on dissent within academic circles last week ahead of the anniversary.
The public anger at Amini’s death has widely been seen as one of the biggest threats to Iran’s clerical establishment since the foundation of the Islamic republic in 1979.
At least 500 people have been killed around the country since authorities began the current crackdown on her sympathizers, with thousands more detained or harassed.
