The father of Alessia Piperno, an
Italian woman who has been detained in Iran, has said the family
are extremely worried about her plight.
Iran has launched a massive wave of arrests following the
outbreak of street protests related to the death in custody of
22-year-old Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini after she was held by
'morality police' for allegedly breaching the Islamic republic's
dress code.
"We are very worried. Unfortunately, the situation is not good,"
Alberto Piperno told ANSA.
"We are in contact with the foreign ministry's crisis unit,
which has activated all the relevant procedures".
Piperno said that he had had a telephone call from his daughter
from a Tehran prison on Sunday.
"After Alessia's phone call from prison yesterday we haven't had
any news, we haven't heard from her," Alberto Piperno said.
In a Facebook post that was subsequently deleted, Alberto
Piperno said that, until Sunday's call, the family had not had
news from the woman for four days, since her 30th birthday on
September 28.
The father said his daughter was a "solo traveler who goes
around the world to discover the habits and customs of
(different) peoples.
"She has always respected the traditions and, in certain cases,
the obligations of each country she visited," he said.
In a recent Instagram post, Alessia Piperno had said leaving
Iran would have the the "wisest" thing for her to do, but said
he was unable to leave "in part because I am part of all this".
On her birthday, however, she said he had decided to go to
Pakistan.
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