Write A Message Before Suicide As A Protest Against The Tehran Regime, Sanjari: I Hope The Iranian People Rise

Protests over Mahsa Amini's death in Iran. (Wikimedia Commons/Darafsh)

JAKARTA - Iranian journalist and human rights activist Kianoosh Sanjari died of suicide in Tehran on Wednesday, in protest against what he called the country's repressive regime.

Sanjari, 42, threatened in a post on social media on Tuesday to commit suicide if four political prisoners were not released on Wednesday evening, quoted from The National News November 14.

"My life will end after this tweet, but don't forget that we are dead and dead for the love of life, not death," wrote Mr. Sanjari on X, in his last tweet to nearly 1 million followers.

He said no one should be "prisoned for expressing their opinion", which drew international attention to the mass arrests of government critics and human rights activists in Iran.

"Protes are the right of every Iranian citizen," he said on X.

His death was confirmed by other activists.

الوعده وفا.

هیچ کس نباید به خاطر بیان عقایدش زندانی شود. اعتراض حق هر شهروند ایرانی‌ست.

زندگی من پس از این توییت به پایان خواهد رسید اما فراموش نکنیم که ما برای عشق به زندگی جان داده و می‌دهیم، و نه مرگ.

آرزومندم روزی ایرانیان بیدار و بر بردگی چیره شوند.

پاینده ایران

— Kianoosh Sanjari (@Sanjaribaf) November 13, 2024

Why don't you look at it?

Let's watch it, let's watch it, let's watch it. Let's watch it. Let's watch it, let's watch it.

"You can't believe it, you can't help it, you can't help it, you can't help it," he said.

YOU CAN'T GIVE IT, LET'S TRY IT, LET'S TRY IT, LET'S TAKE IT CARE OF IT, LET'S TRY IT, LET'S TAKE IT CARE OF IT, LET'S TAKE IT CARE OF IT.

You can't believe it, why don't you look at it?

Iranian human rights activist Hossein Ronaghi paid tribute to Sanjari in an X post confirming his death.

"Kianoosh Sanjari is not just a name, but a symbol of suffering, resistance, and years of struggle to achieve freedom," he said.

"The death is a warning to all of us about how heavy the price is from silence and indifference," he continued.

Four political prisoners who were asked by Sanjari to be released by Fatemeh Sepehri, Nasrin Shakarami, Toomaj Salehi, and Arsham Rezaei were arrested for participating in protests following Mahsa Amini's 22-year-old death in 2022.

Amini died in Iran's moral police custody after being detained in Tehran for wearing her headscarf inappropriately.

Thousands of people protested the government across Iran after his death, leading to mass arrests. Some of those convicted were executed and others were sentenced to long prison terms.

Sanjari himself was previously repeatedly arrested and imprisoned by Iranian authorities between 1999 and 2007, along with his activities as a pro-democracy and human rights activist.

He fled Iran in 2007 and received asylum in Norway, with the help of Amnesty International. While abroad, he continued his human rights activities and worked with human rights groups the Abdorrahman Boroumand Foundation and Iran's Human Rights Documentation Center, before joining the Persian language service of US broadcaster Voice of America in Washington.

Sanjari returned to Iran in 2016 to live with his parents and was arrested and sentenced to 11 years in prison in Evin Tehran, where political prisoners are often detained.

He was released on bail in 2019 with medical considerations, and then taken to a mental hospital.