Iranian Activist Dies by Suicide in Protest Against Regime

A prominent Iranian human rights advocate ended his life as an act of protest against what he described as the authoritarian rule of Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Kianoosh Sanjari announced on social media that he intended to take his own life if four political detainees were not freed by 19:00 local time (15:30 GMT) on Wednesday. His passing was verified several hours later by other activists. In a message published prior to his demise, he expressed a desire that “one day Iranians” would “wake up and overcome slavery”. Sanjari consistently voiced strong criticism of Iran’s leadership and championed democratic principles. Prior to his death, he stated, “No one should be imprisoned for expressing their opinions,” adding, “Protest is the right of every Iranian citizen.” On the morning of Wednesday, he had penned: “If Fateme Sepehari, Nasreen Shakrami, Tomaj Salehi and Arsham Rezaei are not released from prison by 19:00 today … I will end my life in protest against the dictatorship of Khamenei and his partners.” These four individuals had been apprehended due to their backing and participation in the wave of widespread demonstrations that erupted after the passing of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who died in 2022 subsequent to her detention by Iran’s morality police. Sanjari faced multiple arrests and periods of incarceration for his political advocacy from 1999 to 2007. In 2007, he departed Iran and was granted asylum in Norway, subsequently joining the Persian service of the US broadcaster Voice of America in Washington DC. He went back to Iran in 2016 to reunite with his parents, where he was arrested and given an 11-year prison sentence at Evin prison, a facility frequently used for political detainees. He was granted release on bail in 2019 due to health reasons, after which he was transferred to a psychiatric hospital. He informed local news outlets that he experienced electric shocks, was restrained to a bed, and received injections of various substances. Freedom of speech activist Hossein Ronaghi shared on X: “Kianoosh Sanjeri is not just a name, it is a symbol of years of pain, resistance and struggle for freedom.” This content is copyrighted by BBC in 2024. All rights are reserved. The BBC bears no responsibility for material found on external websites. Information regarding our policy on external links is available.