An Iranian journalist killed himself reportedly in protest against Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei hours after demanding the release of four political prisoners.
The 42-year-old Kianoosh Sanjari jumped off from a building on Wednesday (Nov 13) in Tehran after posting on X demanding the release of the prisoners.
According to Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency, Ali Raniei, a social adviser to Iran’s reformist President Masoud Pezeshkian, said that Sanjari’s death should be the subject of a government review.
Ranieri reportedly led the increasing number of suicides in the Islamic nation as “alarming.”
According to The Times of Israel, Sanjari had demanded the release of veteran campaigner Fatemeh Sepehri, Nasreen Shakarami, the mother of a teenager killed during 2022 protests, rapper Tomaj Salehi and civil rights activist Arsham Rezaei.
“If they are not released from prison by 7:00 pm today, Wednesday, and the news of their release is not published on the judiciary news site, I will end my life in protest against the dictatorship of (supreme leader Ayatollah Ali) Khamenei and his accomplices,” he was reported saying by The Times of Israel.
“My life will end after this tweet but let’s not forget that we die and die for the love of life, not death,” he reportedly added.
Sanjari worked with Voice Of America (VOA) from 2008 to 2013 and was an opponent of the Islamic Republic’s clerical authorities.
ABC News reported that the director of the VOA, Michael Abramowitz, offered his condolences in an email to staff.
“Despite the unimaginable repression, brave Iranians continue to risk their lives to make their voices heard,” Abramowitz wrote. “I have great respect for those who use their voices to convey the truth to the people of Iran. That includes many of you, and certainly Kianoosh,” he wrote in an email.
(With inputs from agencies)
