Iran uses arrests and intimidation to stop families commemorating protesters' deaths

On September 21, 2023, a cohort of cars and security forces descended on the village of the family of Javad Heidary, a protester killed in September 2022. The roads leading to the village and to the village cemetery where the man's body was laid to rest were blocked by Iranian security forces. © Observers

Since September 16, Iranian authorities have been using arrests, death threats and direct attacks to prevent families from celebrating the anniversaries of the deaths of their loved ones killed during the "Woman, Life, Freedom" protests. The aim: to prevent these commemorations from giving rise to new anti-regime demonstrations throughout the country.

The Iranian authorities had been scrutinising the date of September 16 for months. It was on that day in 2022 that 22-year-old Mahsa Amini died after being arrested by the Islamic Republic's morality police. Her death launched a movement of protests that deeply shook Iranian society.