Relatives of the Kurdish-Iranian Mahsa Aminiwhose death after being arrested by the ‘morality police’ Iranian for not wearing the veil properly caused a wave of protestshas not been able to travel to Francewhere they were scheduled to receive the Sakharov Prize.

The parents and the brother of Amini have not been able to board the flight and their passports have been confiscatedas revealed by his lawyer, quoted by the BBC, despite having the visas in order.

The three planned to travel to Strasbourg on Friday to receive the Sakharov Prize for Human Rights that has been posthumously awarded to the woman.

Amini’s father, Amyad Aminihas revealed that the ban has been at the request of the Ministry of Information, according to the radio station Radio Farda. “At the Khomeini Airport in Tehran“After handing over the luggage and receiving the boarding pass,” their passports were confiscated, he said.

Amini’s mother, Mozhgan EftejariAnd his brother, Ashkan Aminithey will not be able to leave the country until January 30. “We wanted to travel to collect the prize and we even had the return ticket. There was no other intention, but “They have illegally prevented us from doing so.”said Amyad Amini.

Amini, 22, died in a Tehran hospital on September 16, 2022, three days after his arrest. Witnesses claim that Amini was beaten in custodybut the authorities deny any mistreatment and attribute his death to “a sudden heart attack”. In October the EU announced the award of the Sakharov Prize to Amini and the Women, Life, Freedom movement that emerged after her death.