Family of murdered Mahsa Amini boycotts elections
The father of Mahsa Amini, whose death in Iran's morality police custody sparked a nationwide uprising, stated his family is boycotting the sham presidential elections.
The father of Mahsa Amini, whose death in Iran's morality police custody sparked a nationwide uprising, stated his family is boycotting the sham presidential elections.
“We are not endorsing any specific candidate in this election, and we have little hope for the realization of justice in the future," Amjad Amini wrote on Instagram.
Since Mahsa’s death in September 2022, her family has been under considerable pressure from the government, including being faced with travel bans. Her father has faced multiple summons to the Intelligence Office in Saqqez since her death.
Mahsa’s uncle has also been detained by security forces, and threats have been levied against Mahsa's brother.
In December, the family's lawyer, Saleh Nikbakht, was sentenced to prison, charged with "engaging in propaganda against the Iranian regime."
The national and global outrage over Mahsa's death is one of the most significant challenges to Iran's clerical establishment since the Islamic Republic was established in 1979.
In March, a UN fact-finding mission declared that Tehran's crackdown on the 2022 protests—including killings, imprisonment, torture, and sexual violence—constitutes crimes against humanity.
The Fact-Finding Mission was established by the UN Human Rights Council in November 2022, two months after the Woman, Life, Freedom protests erupted across the country in response to the death of 22-year-old Iranian-Kurd, Mahsa.
The team concluded that Iran is responsible for "physical violence" leading to Amini's death. The Iranian authorities have denied responsibility, attributing her death to a childhood medical condition following surgery.
However, the UN report dismissed this explanation, confirming "evidence of trauma to Ms Amini's body, inflicted while in the custody of the morality police."
