Continued Security Pressure on Plaintiffs; Siavash Mahmoudi's Mother Summoned

On the eve of the anniversary of Mahsa Amini's death and amid ongoing security pressures on the families of plaintiffs, Leila Mahdavi, the mother of Siavash Mahmoudi, was summoned to Evin Prosecutor's Office after her home was searched and her mobile phone was confiscated. The news agency of human rights activists in Iran, HRANA, reported on Thursday, September 2, citing a source close to Leila Mahdavi's family, that agents searched this grieving mother's home on Wednesday and confiscated 'some personal belongings including her mobile phone.' According to this report, Leila Mahdavi has been summoned for 'Saturday, September 4,' but the reason for this summons is unclear. Leila Mahdavi is the mother of Siavash Mahmoudi, a 16-year-old boy who was shot dead during nationwide protests in Tehran on September 30 last year. As the anniversary of Mahsa Amini's death approaches, pressure on civil activists and families of plaintiffs has increased. The father of one of the victims told VOA on Tuesday that security officials of the Islamic Republic have threatened the families of plaintiffs that if they are seen in public on Mahsa's anniversary, there will be severe consequences. In recent days, several members of these plaintiff families, including Mashallah Karami, Nasrin Alizadeh, Faramarz Barahoui, and Mahsa Yazdani, have been arrested, and others have been summoned to judicial authorities. Fatemeh, the sister of Javad Heydari, one of the victims of the nationwide protests in Qazvin, tweeted that Nasrin, the sister of plaintiff Shirin Alizadeh, has been transferred to the Dowlatabad prison in Isfahan, and Shirin's husband, Kourosh Vaziri, is also in Dastgerd prison, with authorities providing 'no response' to family inquiries. Meanwhile, several members of the families of victims from the second half of 1401 (2022) and executed protesters, including the sister of Javad Heydari, the brother of Erfan Khazaei, the brother of Arman Emadi, the brother of Fereydoun Mahmoudi, the daughter of Minou Majidi, the brother of Mohammad Hassan Torkman, the brother of Ali Roozbehani, the brother of Shahryar Mohammadi, the brother of Mohammad Rasul Momenizadeh, the brother of Mehregan Zahmatkesh, the brother of Mohsen Qaisari, the brother of Erfan Rezaei, and the cousin of Majid Kazemi, have emphasized their determination to stand firm until the end in a joint message shared on their Twitter accounts. Matthew Miller, spokesperson for the U.S. State Department, stated on July 18 in response to a question from a VOA Persian reporter that the Islamic Republic has not learned from recent protests.