A newspaper with a cover picture of Mahsa Amini is seen in Tehran, September 18, 2022. Photo: Reuters/Majid Asgaripour

Human rights groups monitoring the situation in Iran have reported the arrest by security forces of the uncle of Jina “Mahsa” Amini, the young Kurdish woman whose death one year ago at the hands of Iran’s morality police sparked protests against the ruling Islamist regime on an unprecedented scale.

Citing human rights monitors, the Kurdish news agency Kurdpa reported that Safa Aeli, Amini’s 30-year-old uncle, was arrested by security forces in his home town of Saqqez. The agency said that the officers who invaded Aeli’s home did not present a judicial order.

Hengaw, a Kurdish human rights organization, said that five vehicles carrying the officers had pulled up outside Aeli’s home before they forced their way in.

NDTV, an Iranian opposition broadcaster, separately reported that Saqqez, where Amini is buried, is under particularly close scrutiny as the anniversary of her death approaches. The channel said that hotels had been warned not to accept “outsiders” and that additional cameras had been deployed around the town, including at Amini’s grave.

Aeli’s arrest comes one week after the lawyer who represented Amini, Saleh Nikbakht, appeared in court charged with “propaganda against the system.”

Amini became an international cause célèbre following her death in a Tehran hospital on Sept. 16, 2022, after she was arrested and savagely beaten by officers of the morality police for allegedly wearing her hijab, or head covering, inappropriately. As news of her death spread, furious protests broke out in the Kurdish region where Amini was born and across the country.

Attempts by the Iranian authorities to portray Amini’s death as the result of brain surgery she had as a child were roundly rejected, as world leaders expressed disgust at the manner of her death and many Iranians adopted her as a symbol of their “Women, Life, Freedom” revolution.

In the bloody crackdown that followed, more than 500 people were killed by security forces while over 22,000 were detained.

The Iranian authorities have warned students and academics on the country’s university campuses that there will be little tolerance for protests commemorating Amini’s fate as the school year starts.