Tehran: The Iranian authorities have arrested an uncle of slain Mahsa Amini, whose death in police custody last year sparked the largest Iranian protests in decades, local media reported.
Thirty-year-old Safa Aeli was detained by security forces in Saqqez, western Iran on Tuesday, September 5.
The Hengaw Human Rights Organization reported his arrest, saying that security forces raided his home without presenting a judicial order before taking Aeli to an unknown location.
The arrest comes ahead of the death anniversary of Amini, September 16, who was arrested by morality police for allegedly violating the country’s strict dress code for women.
Amini’s death sparked nationwide protests often referred to as the “Women, Life, and Freedom” protests that swept Iran for months, only subsiding in January. Protests were renewed periodically in several locations during the months that followed.
At least 500 people were killed across the country after Iranian authorities brutally suppressed the protests.
