Uncle of Mahsa Amini sentenced to five years in prison

Safa Aaeli, the uncle of Mahsa Amini, was sentenced to five years and four months in prison, as well as several other penalties, for supporting protests against the regime that swept Iran after Amini was killed in September 2022, according to the Hengaw Organization for Human Rights.

Aaeli was charged with plotting and conspiring against internal security, spreading propaganda against the regime, and insulting Iran's supreme leader. 

Aeli was arrested from his home in September shortly before the first anniversary of the killing of his niece.

Amini was arrested by "morality police" officers in Tehran in mid-September 2022 for allegedly incorrectly wearing her hijab, with her family saying that she was beaten by the officers in the van that brought her to the police station.

At the police station, she collapsed and was brought to the hospital where she later died. Her relatives have told foreign media that they were kept largely in the dark about the situation.

Amini’s death in September 2022 sparked nationwide protests often referred to as the "Women, Life, Liberty" protests that swept across Iran for months, only declining in January 2023. Protests periodically renewed in several locations in the months following.

Iran intensifies persecution of political prisoners

In recent weeks, the Islamic regime in Iran has intensified its crackdown on activists and protesters, conducting several executions and issuing a series of harsh sentences, including death sentences, against political prisoners.