PARIS: Iranian authorities have re-arrested a journalist who interviewed the father of the woman whose custody death sparked months of protests, just two days after her release from jail, activists said on Tuesday.

Nazila Maroufian walked out of Tehran’s Evin prison on Sunday, posting on social media a picture of herself without a headscarf in defiance of the Islamic republic’s strict dress code for women.

“Don’t accept slavery, you deserve the best!” she wrote in her posts.

But she has now been detained again and moved outside of Tehran to Qarchak women’s prison, whose conditions are repeatedly criticised by rights groups, the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) said.

The group, which collates information from activists, said it had confirmed her re-arrest with a source close to the family.

Maroufian, whose age is given by Persian media outside Iran as 23, in October published an interview on the Mostaghel Online news site with Amjad Amini.

He is the father of Mahsa Amini, 22. Her death in custody last September 16 after she allegedly violated the dress rules sparked months of protests.

In the interview, Amjad Amini accused authorities of lying about the circumstances of his daughter’s death.

Iranian authorities have indicated she died because of a health problem, but the family and activists have said she suffered a blow to the head while in custody.

Maroufian, a Tehran-based journalist from Amini’s hometown of Saqez in Kurdistan province, was first arrested in November.

Published in Dawn, August 16th, 2023