Deprived of passports. The parents and brother of Mahsa Amini who were to receive, Sunday at a ceremony in France, the Sakharov Prize awarded to the young woman posthumously, have been banned from leaving Iranian territory, announced Saturday (December 9th) to AFP their lawyer in France.

They were "forbidden to board the flight that was to take them to France for the presentation of the Sakharov Prize," Chirinne Ardakani said. She added that the family had been barred from leaving Iran despite having a valid visa, and that their passports had been confiscated. Chirinne Ardakani said that the Iranian authorities "have never been so mobilized to prevent the families of the victims from addressing the international community."

A measure that shows, according to the lawyer, Tehran's feverishness on the eve of symbolic events. The ban on leaving the country of the parents and brother of the young Kurd, who died after being arrested by the Iranian morality police for an ill-fitting veil, comes as France is due to celebrate Sunday in Paris the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Read alsoMahsa Amini's death: revolt and broken destinies

On the same day, the Nobel Peace Prize will be awarded in Oslo, Norway, to the family of Iranian activist Narges Mohammadi, who will not be able to receive it in person because she is being held in Tehran's Evin prison.

The death of Mahsa Amini on 16 September 2022 at the age of 22 led to several months of widespread protests against Iran's political and religious leaders, whose repression resulted in hundreds of deaths and thousands of arrests. The "Woman, Life, Freedom" uprising has continued in different forms and appears to be one of the biggest challenges to the Iranian authorities since the 1979 revolution.

Created in 1988, the Sakharov Prize "for Freedom of Thought" is awarded each year to individuals or organizations defending human rights and fundamental freedoms. The 2023 prize is due to be formally awarded at a ceremony at the European Parliament in Strasbourg on 13 December.

With AFP

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