By Pishtaz | 2023-08-22

As the first anniversary of the death in "morality police" custody of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini draws near, the Iranian regime is increasing security measures in anticipation of renewed protests, reports from Iran say.

Authorities have ordered heavier security presence on the streets and are reportedly on alert to prevent gatherings and memorials on the September 16 anniversary.

The death of Amini in police custody last year after her detention for allegedly improper head coverage sparked protests across the country -- the most widespread since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

The movement, dubbed "Women, Life, Freedom," was initially led by women and focused on personal freedom and rejection of the national headscarf mandate. It later expanded to include other issues and grievances against the regime.

Iran's "morality police" pursue and punish women who refuse to cover their hair or whose coverage does not fall in line with state-mandated rules.

A relatively small percentage of Iranian women -- particularly in smaller cities and rural areas -- cover their hair for religious or traditional reasons, or because they are forced to do so by their family, Iranians in the country told Pishtaz.

But most women in Iran strongly prefer no hair coverage, and have only worn headscarves because the state has forced them to do so, they said.

Rights groups concerned

The families of those unlawfully killed by Iran's security forces during the "Women, Life, Freedom" uprising in 2022 must be allowed to mark the one-year anniversaries of their deaths, Amnesty International said August 21.

In a new report, Amnesty International details how the Iranian authorities have been subjecting victims' families to arbitrary arrest, imposing cruel restrictions on peaceful gatherings at gravesites and destroying victims' gravestones.

"Not a single official has been held to account for the unlawful killing of hundreds of men, women and children by security forces during the authorities' brutal crackdown on the popular uprising," the global rights watchdog said.

Iranian authorities "have arrested at least a dozen activists and increased pressure on a wide range of peaceful dissidents ahead of the anniversary of the nationwide protests," Human Rights Watch (HRW) said August 19.

During the months-long protests, international rights organizations repeatedly expressed concern over the regime's harsh crackdown on protesters.

Security forces in the northern province of Gilan detained Mahsa Basir-Tavana, whose brother Mehran was killed in the 2022 protests, Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) reported August 17.

According to various social media accounts, university administrators recently referred students at the Tehran-based universities of Amir Kabir, Allameh Tabataba'i and Khajeh Nasir Toosi to disciplinary committees.

On August 16, the independent women's rights group Bidarzani reported that "Iranian security forces raided homes of a number of people and arrested 12 individuals, including 11 women's rights activists and a political activist."

Their families have not received any information about their whereabouts or their conditions since their arrests, Bidarzani said.

Cruelty 'knows no bounds'

"The cruelty of the Iranian authorities knows no bounds," said Diana Eltahawy, Amnesty International's deputy regional director for the Middle East and North Africa.

"In their sinister attempt to cover up their crimes, the authorities are compounding the anguish and suffering of victims' families by preventing them from demanding justice, truth and reparation or even planting flowers at their loved ones' graves," Eltahawy said.

"The international community must support victims' families by pressing the Iranian authorities in private and in public to respect their right to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly," she said.

"The families must be protected from arbitrary detention, threats and other reprisals," she added.

"States must also call on the Iranian authorities to release all those who were detained for advocating for truth and justice over the deaths, quash all unjust convictions and sentences against them, and drop all charges against those facing reprisals for speaking out."