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Human rights groups say Mahsa Amini’s father has been briefly detained amid a heavy security presence on the first anniversary of his daughter’s death in Iranian police custody, which sparked months of anti-government protests .
The Kurdistan Human Rights Network said that before being released, Amjad Amini was warned against commemorating the anniversary of his daughter’s death.
Iran’s official IRNA news agency denied that Amjad Amini had been arrested, but did not say whether he was briefly detained or warned.
Earlier, reports on social media and rights groups said security forces had taken up positions around Amini’s home in Sakez, western Iran.
Months of protests followed the death of a 22-year-old Kurdish woman in morality police custody last year on charges of violating the Islamic Republic’s mandatory dress code, the largest demonstration of opposition to authorities in years.
Many called for an end to more than four decades of Shia cleric rule.
Amini’s parents said in a statement earlier this week that, despite government warnings, they would hold “traditional and religious anniversary celebrations” at their 22-year-old daughter’s grave in Sakez, according to social media posts.
There was a massive deployment of security forces to Iran’s mostly Kurdish areas on Saturday in anticipation of unrest, according to human rights groups.
Widespread attacks were also reported in several cities in Iran’s Kurdistan region.
However, IRNA said that Amini’s hometown of Saqqez was “completely quiet” and that the call for a strike in Kurdish areas had failed due to “the vigilance of the people and the security and presence of military forces”.
It quoted an official in the Kurdistan province as saying: “Several agents associated with counter-revolutionary groups who planned to create chaos and prepare fodder for the media were arrested in the early hours of this morning.”
Rights groups said more than 500 people, including 71 minors, were killed, hundreds injured and thousands arrested in protests following Amini’s death.
Iran hangs seven people linked to the unrest.
In a report last month, Amnesty International said Iranian authorities were “arbitrarily arresting and detaining victims’ families, imposing brutal restrictions on peaceful gatherings at grave sites and destroying victims’ graves”. .
Many journalists, lawyers, activists, students, academics, artists, public figures and members of ethnic minorities accused of being associated with the protest wave, as well as relatives of protesters killed in the unrest, have been arrested, summoned, threatened Or have been fired from jobs. Over the past few weeks, according to Iranian and Western human rights groups.
Iran’s Etemad daily reported in August that Amini’s family lawyer also faced charges of “propaganda against the system”.
If found guilty, Saleh Nikbakht could face a prison sentence of one to three years.
