Iran’s president meets families of forces killed in protests

Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi has met with families of security personnel killed during mass protests sparked by the death in custody of Mahsa Amini last year, state media reported on Saturday.

Raisi has been holding the meetings since Thursday during a visit to the northeastern city of Mashhad, ahead of Saturday’s first anniversary of Amini’s death.

Iran was gripped by nationwide demonstrations following Amini’s death days after her arrest for an alleged breach of the dress code for women.

Hundreds of people were killed, including dozens of security force members, during the months-long protests, and thousands more were arrested.

Raisi “met today with the families of security defenders,” the IRNA news agency said.

His meetings included the families of Danial Rezazadeh and Hossein Zeinalzadeh, Tasnim news agency said.

Rezazadeh and Zeinalzadeh were members of the pro-government Basij paramilitary force who were killed when they intervened to stop the protests on Nov. 17, state media said at the time.

Their deaths were blamed on MajidReza Rahnavard, one of seven people Iran’s judiciary later executed over their links to the protests.

During a meeting on Thursday, Raisi welcomed “the shameful failure of the enemy’s project aimed at destabilizing” Iran, according to a statement issued by the presidency.

On Saturday, authorities arrested several groups on accusations of “planning to create chaos” and producing content to serve “hostile media,” according to IRNA.

Some of these groups were from Amini’s home province of Kurdistan, and others were from Iran’s northwest and south, the agency added.

Others were arrested in the northeastern province of North Khorasan for instigating “riots,” according to the Mehr news agency.

Authorities in the central city of Isfahan have “identified 97 people” and blocked 15 Instagram pages for attempting to stir up “public opinion” on the anniversary of the protests, IRNA said.

Rights groups alleged that Iranian authorities on Saturday prevented the family of Amini from holding a ceremony to commemorate the anniversary, confining her father to his home after briefly detaining him.

Amini’s father Amjad Amini was detained while exiting the family home in the western town of Saqez and then released after being warned not to hold a memorial service at her graveside, the Kurdistan Human Rights Network or KHRN, 1500tasvir monitor and Norway-based Iran Human Rights or IHR) said.

He was now not being allowed to leave the family home, with members of the security forces stationed outside, the groups added in separate statements.

“Amjad Amini is under house arrest … Security forces are preventing him from visiting his daughter’s grave,” said IHR.

IRNA described the reports of the arrest as “false,” saying they were aimed at “inciting the population to protest.”

Amjad Amini was already summoned by intelligence officials last week after his announcement he planned to hold a memorial ceremony.

One of Amini’s uncles, Safa Aeli, was detained in Saqez on Sept. 5 and remains in custody.

There was no sign of the ceremony taking place at her grave at the Aichi cemetery in Saqez.

Kurdish-focused group Hengaw said people in western Iran were expressing discontent through a general strike, with shops shut down in a dozen towns and cities including Saqez.

While some women are still seen walking in public without headscarves, particularly in wealthy, traditionally liberal areas of north Tehran, the conservative-dominated parliament is currently considering a draft law that would impose far stiffer penalties for non-compliance.

Iran “is doubling down on repression and reprisals against its citizens and seeking to introduce new and more draconian laws that severely restrict further the rights of women and girls,” said Sara Hossain, the chair of the UN fact-finding mission set up to investigate the crackdown.

Under the slogan “Say her name!,” Iranian emigres were expected to hold commemorative rallies, with large demonstrations expected in Paris and Toronto.

On the eve of the anniversary, the US and its Western allies including Britain and the EU imposed new sanctions on Iran over its protest crackdown.