Human Rights Watch (HRW) has accused Iran's leadership of an ongoing "brutal repression" of women and peaceful dissenters in the two years since the death of 22-year-old Kurdish-Iranian student Mahsa Amini while in police custody over a dress-code violation unleashed nationwide protests.
The international watchdog issued its statement on the September 16 anniversary of Amini's death, the same day recently inaugurated Iranian President Masud Pezeshkian pledged at his first press conference that he would use his authority to ensure the country's feared morality police no longer "bother" women.
But Pezeshkian faces an uphill climb limiting the power and influence of the morality police and other hard-line conservative institutions under the reign of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who wields ultimate religious and political authority in Iran.
"The authorities have failed to answer for the killing of hundreds and the arrest of thousands, and they have systematically continued their suppression of opponents, civil society, and human rights defenders," HRW quoted acting Iran researcher Nahid Naghshbandi as saying.
"A change in government and a new president have so far done nothing to alter the authorities' repressive actions toward dissent."
SEE ALSO: 'Women, Life, Freedom': Iran's Protest Movement Magnifies Defiance, Camaraderie 2 Years OnIran is facing major economic difficulties, much of it brought on by Western sanctions, and growing anger among citizens in many cases led by women's groups over human rights violations at home.
Amini's parents were reportedly surrounded at their home in the city of Saghez and prevented from leaving as part of a clampdown on public signs of mourning that also included a roundup of activists or their families.
Imprisoned Iranian Nobel Peace laureate and longtime women's rights activist Narges Mohammadi issued a plea on September 16 urging the international community to act to end the oppression of women in Iran and other theocratic and authoritarian regimes.
Mohammadi hailed the Women, Life, Freedom movement sparked by Amini's death as part of a lasting "commitment to achieving democracy, freedom, and equality and to defeating theocratic despotism."
Speaking at his first press conference since taking office in late July following the death of a hard-line predecessor, relative moderate Pezeshkian said, "Morality police were not supposed to confront [women]. I will follow up so they don't bother them."
A female journalist in the room noted she had been forced to take a different route to the press conference to avoid a morality patrol.
"Imprisoned women in Iran are reviving the 'Women, Life, Freedom' movement through hunger strikes, protest letters, and sit-ins, continuing their activism despite severe sentences," HRW said.