Iran's Security Forces Briefly Detain Mahsa Amini's Father

Young protesters flash the V sign during a rally marking the one-year anniversary of Mahsa Amini’s death in custody, Reddacliff Place, Brisbane, Australia, 16 September 2023. EPA/JONO SEARLE
Young protesters flash the V sign during a rally marking the one-year anniversary of Mahsa Amini’s death in custody, Reddacliff Place, Brisbane, Australia, 16 September 2023. EPA/JONO SEARLE
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Iran's Security Forces Briefly Detain Mahsa Amini's Father

Young protesters flash the V sign during a rally marking the one-year anniversary of Mahsa Amini’s death in custody, Reddacliff Place, Brisbane, Australia, 16 September 2023. EPA/JONO SEARLE
Young protesters flash the V sign during a rally marking the one-year anniversary of Mahsa Amini’s death in custody, Reddacliff Place, Brisbane, Australia, 16 September 2023. EPA/JONO SEARLE

The father of Mahsa Amini was briefly detained on Saturday, human rights groups said, amid a heavy security force presence on the first anniversary of his daughter's death in Iranian police custody that sparked months of anti-government protests.

Amjad Amini was warned against marking the anniversary of his daughter's death before being released, the Kurdistan Human Rights Network said.

Iran's official IRNA news agency denied that Amjad Amini was arrested, but it did not say if he was briefly detained or warned.

Earlier, social media and reports by rights groups spoke of security forces taking up positions around Amini's home in Saqez, in western Iran.

The death of the 22-year-old Kurdish woman in the custody of the morality police last year for allegedly flouting the mandatory dress code triggered months of protests that represented the biggest show of opposition to the authorities in years.

Many called for an end to more than four decades of clerical rule.

According to social media posts, Amini's parents had said in a statement earlier this week that, despite government warnings, they would hold a "traditional and religious anniversary ceremony" at their 22-year-old daughter's grave in Saqez.

A massive security force presence was deployed in Iran's mostly Kurdish areas on Saturday in anticipation of unrest, according to human rights groups.

Widespread strikes were also reported in multiple cities in Iran's Kurdistan region.

However, IRNA said Amini's hometown of Saqez was "completely quiet" and that calls for strike in Kurdish areas had failed due to "people's vigilance and the presence of security and military forces.”

It quoted an official in the Kurdistan province as saying: "A number of agents affiliated with counter-revolutionary groups who had planned to create chaos and prepare media fodder were arrested in the early hours of this morning."

In the protests that followed Amini's death more than 500 people, including 71 minors, were killed, hundreds injured and thousands arrested, rights groups said. Iran carried out seven executions linked to the unrest.



China Blasts US Arms Sale to Taiwan, Lai's US Transit

FILE PHOTO: Flags of US and China are seen in this illustration picture taken August 2, 2022. REUTERS/Florence Lo/Illustration/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Flags of US and China are seen in this illustration picture taken August 2, 2022. REUTERS/Florence Lo/Illustration/File Photo
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China Blasts US Arms Sale to Taiwan, Lai's US Transit

FILE PHOTO: Flags of US and China are seen in this illustration picture taken August 2, 2022. REUTERS/Florence Lo/Illustration/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Flags of US and China are seen in this illustration picture taken August 2, 2022. REUTERS/Florence Lo/Illustration/File Photo

China vowed "resolute countermeasures" on Sunday to a recently approved US arms sale to Taiwan, and complained to the US for arranging for the democratically governed island's president to transit through US territory.
The US State Department approved the potential sale, worth an estimated $385 million, of spare parts and support for F-16 jets and radars to Taiwan, the Pentagon said on Friday.
The sale was announced hours before Taiwan's President Lai Ching-te left on a visit to Taipei's three diplomatic allies in the Pacific, with stops in Hawaii and the US territory of Guam.
The sale sends "a wrong signal" to Taiwan independence forces and undermines US-China relations, China's foreign ministry said in a statement.
The ministry said in a separate statement that it firmly opposes any official exchanges between the US and Taiwan and "strongly condemns" the US for arranging the transit.
China, which views democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory and the most important issue in its relations with Washington, strongly dislikes Lai, calling him a "separatist".
The United States is bound by law to provide Taiwan with the means to defend itself despite the lack of formal diplomatic ties between Washington and Taipei, to the constant anger of Beijing.
Taiwan rejects China's claims of sovereignty.