Authorities in Iran have prevented relatives of Mahsa Amini, whose September 2022 death in custody sparked nationwide anti-government protests, from leaving the country to accept the European Parliament's Sakharov Prize.
Her family's lawyer in France, Chirinne Ardakani, told AFP that Amini's parents and brother had been “prohibited from boarding the flight that was to take them to France for the presentation of the Sakharov Prize.”
She said the family were banned from leaving Iran despite having a valid visa, and their passports were confiscated.
In October, the European Union awarded its top rights honor, the Sakharov Prize, to Amini and the global movement her death triggered.
Amini died in hospital in Tehran on 16 September 2022, three days after she was detained by morality police in the capital for allegedly violating Iran's strict rules requiring women to cover their hair with a hijab, or headscarf.
Witnesses said the 22-year-old Kurd was beaten while in custody, but authorities denied she was mistreated.
Amini's death triggered mass protests in Iran. It also generated a global movement known as “Woman, Life, Freedom.”
Iranian security forces have cracked down on the protests domestically, killing hundreds, and have executed dozens for allegedly participating in what officials have called “riots.”
Ardakani said that with the Nobel Prize being held at the same time, the Iranian authorities have never been so mobilized to prevent the families of the victims from speaking out to the international community.
When the European Union awarded the Sakharov Prize to Amini, the president of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola said: “The brutal murder of 22-year-old Jina Mahsa Amini marked a turning point. It has triggered a women-led movement that is making history.”
Metsola said the movement's three-word slogan was “a rallying cry for all those standing up for equality, for dignity, and for freedom in Iran.”
