Amnesty International calls for immediate release of Masih Alinejad's relatives
“Masih Alinejad’s brother and his ex-wife’s brother and sister have been arrested to silence him.” Amnesty International has called on the Iranian government to release Masih Alinejad’s relatives and end its campaign against women’s rights in Iran.
Pressure on the families of activists and civil society activists in Iran is not a new phenomenon. On Wednesday, September 25, Amnesty International released a statement responding to the pressure being exerted on the relatives of Masih Alinejad.
The statement of this human rights organization states that the Iranian government is trying to silence women's rights activists by arresting their relatives.
The Amnesty International statement added that Iranian authorities have arrested three relatives of Masih Alinejad. The statement said that Masih Alinejad’s efforts to defend women’s rights and fight against compulsory hijab, including in the “White Wednesdays” campaign, were among the reasons for the arrest of the relatives of this women’s rights activist.
Masih Alinejad's Instagram post
After the news of the arrest of his brother Alireza Alinejad and the arrest of Hadi and Leila Lotfi, his ex-wife's brother and sister, was published, Masih Alinejad reacted to this action of the Iranian government in two separate posts on Instagram.
Masih Alinejad referred to the pressure exerted by government officials on his family, writing, among other things, "They raided my brother Ali's house and arrested him in front of his two young children. Not long ago, they took my 70-year-old mother and interrogated her, and now my brother."
This women's rights and civil rights activist has said that she will soon provide information about these actions of the Islamic Republic government against her relatives.
Masih Alinejad also wrote in his Instagram post: "Those who took my brother Ali blindfolded said they were from Tehran's Ministry of Intelligence. His crime was love, my mother's crime was also love. The Islamic Republic's job is to terrorize and create terror, and by taking my family hostage, it wants to silence me."
Alinejad referred to Zarif and Rouhani's speeches about peace at the UN General Assembly and said: "The Islamic Republic has taken Iran hostage. Hassan Rouhani and Javad Zarif have brought a message of peace from the Islamic Republic to the UN, while the Islamic Republic is at war with my seventy-year-old mother, with my brother, and with millions of Iranians."
In her second Instagram post, she mentioned the arrest of Hadi and Leila Lotfi and said that after interrogating Hadi, her ex-husband's brother, and a women's rights activist, the officers told her that any contact with Masih Alinejad and "his team" would be considered a crime.
Hadi Lotfi has been released after interrogation, but he has been told that he does not have the right to leave the city of Babol and must be available at any time to answer questions from security officers.
Masih Alinejad has expressed ignorance about Leila Lotfi's condition and where she is being held.
Amnesty International, while also reflecting this news, has not ruled out the possibility of torture and ill-treatment of Leila Lotfi. Philip Luther, Amnesty International's Director of Advocacy and Research for the Middle East and North Africa, considered these actions by the Iranian government to be an attempt to silence women's rights activists.
The Amnesty International statement also mentions Sahar Khodayari's self-immolation and her defense of women's right to be present in stadiums.
Amnesty International has called on the Iranian government to immediately release the relatives of Masih Alinejad and end its campaign against women's rights in Iran.
Source: DW
