Iran arrests ex-president Rafsanjani’s daughter for ‘inciting protests’
The Islamic Republic of Iran has arrested the daughter of ex-president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani for inciting protests in the country.
According to the Tasnim news agency, Faezeh Hashemi, the daughter of the ex-president was arrested in the east of Tehran by a security agency for inciting rioters to street protests amid a wave of demonstrations over the death of a young woman, Mahsa Amini.
In July, the judiciary said that Hashemi, a former lawmaker and a women’s rights activist, carried out propaganda activity against the country and blasphemy in social media comments. According to the Iranian authorities, Hashemi was reported to have said Iran’s demand for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to be removed from a US terror list was “damaging” to the country’s “national interests.”
She also made separate comments about Khadija, the wife of the Prophet Mohammed. She was reported to have called Khadija a “businesswoman” to prove that women can also engage in economic and business activities. In 2012, she was sentenced to six months in jail on charges of “propaganda against Iran.”
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Currently, the Islamic nation has been gripped by protests. The protest erupted in several cities of Iran after the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini. Many women burned their Hijabs and chopped off their hair on the street, demanding justice for the woman. State-organised protests took place in various Iranian cities.
On 13 September, Amini was travelling to Tehran, the capital of Iran, to visit her family members. She was standing at the entry of Haqqani Highway with her brother Kiaresh Amini when she was arrested by the Iranian morality police. They arrested her and transferred her to the ‘Moral Security’ agency to teach her about Hijab.
Human rights activists claimed that the Iranian security forces beat her in the detention centre for allegedly wearing an inappropriate Hijab.