On the one-year anniversary of his daughter’s death, Mahsa Amini’s father was detained by Iranian authorities.
Mahsa Amini, a highly respected Iranian human rights lawyer, was killed in a car accident while driving her son to school in February of 2014. Her father, lawyer Mohammad Ali Taheri, was detained by Iranian authorities on February 27th, the one-year anniversary of Amini’s death.
Taheri has been detained since his daughter’s death, reportedly enduring “unlawful incommunicado detention in solitary confinement,” according to the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran. Taheri has only been informed of the charges against him once, when he was accused of blasphemy and insulting Islamic sanctities.
The International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran (ICHRI) is a non-governmental organization that is highly critical of Iranian human rights violations. According to the ICHRI, Taheri’s detention is entirely unjustified. The ICHRI says that Taheri had been in detention for nearly a year before the anniversary of Amini’s death, and that his only “crime” was to peacefully advocate for human rights.
The Iranian authorities have failed to provide an explanation for Taheri’s detention or grant him due process, and his continued detention is a violation of both Iran’s domestic and international legal obligations. Taheri was arrested without a warrant and transferred to a secret detention center without his family’s knowledge.
The detention of Taheri is yet another example of Iran’s disregard for the rule of law and its treatment of human rights defenders. The international community has a responsibility to demand Taheri’s immediate release and to press the Iranian authorities for accountability.
