Iran arrests ex-president Rafsanjani's daughter for 'inciting protests'

TEHRAN: Iran on Tuesday arrested the daughter of ex-president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani for inciting protests, the Tasnim news agency said, amid a wave of demonstrations over the death of a young woman.

"Faezeh Hashemi has been arrested in the east of Tehran by a security agency for inciting rioters to street protests," Tasnim reported, without elaborating.

Iranians on Tuesday staged a 12th straight night of protests over the death of Mahsa Amini, 22.

The Kurdish woman died in the custody of Iran's notorious morality police, after her arrest for allegedly breaching the country's strict rules on hijab headscarves and modest clothing.

Hashemi, a former lawmaker and a women's rights activist, has had previous run-ins with the law in the Islamic republic.

In July, she was charged with carrying out propaganda activity against the country and blasphemy in social media comments, the judiciary said at the time.

Hashemi was reported to have said Iran's demand for the Revolutionary Guards to be removed from a US terror list was "damaging" to the country's "national interests," according to media reports then.

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Hashemi also made separate comments concerning Khadija, the wife of the Prophet Mohammed.

She was reported to have called Khadija a "businesswoman", showing that women can also engage in economic activity, and whose money the prophet spent.

She later said the comments had been a "joke... without any intention of causing insult", state news agency IRNA reported.

Hashemi's late father was a moderate who advocated improved ties with the West and the United States.

In 2012, she was sentenced to six months in jail on charges of "propaganda against the Islamic republic".