Iran bans Mahsa Amini’s family from traveling to accept the European Union’s top human rights prize

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iranian authorities banned members of the late Mahsa Amini’s family from traveling to accept the European Union’s top human rights prize on her behalf, a civil rights monitor reported. Amini’s death while in police custody sparked nationwide protests in 2022 that rocked the Islamic Republic. The U.S.-based civil rights monitor HRANA said late Saturday that authorities have refused to allow Amini’s father and two of her brothers to fly out to Strasbourg, France, to receive the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought. Reports said only the family’s lawyer would travel to be handed the award on their behalf. The 22-year-old Kurdish-Iranin woman died after Iran’s morality police arrested her for allegedly violating the country’s strict headscarf law.