Iranian activist Kianoosh Sanjari dies by suicide in protest against regime

He had demanded the release of four political prisoners held after 2022 demonstrations

A file photo of Iranian activist Kianoosh Sanjari. Getty Images

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

Mr Sanjari, who was 42, had threatened in a social media post on Tuesday to take his own life if four political prisoners were not released by Wednesday evening.

His death was confirmed by other activists.

“My life will end after this tweet but let us not forget that we die and die for the love of life, not death,” Mr Sanjari wrote on X, in his last tweet to his almost 1 million followers.

He said no one should be “imprisoned for expressing their opinions”, calling international attention to the mass arrests of government critics and human rights activists in Iran.

“Protest is the right of every Iranian citizen,” he said on X.

Iranian human rights activist Hossein Ronaghi paid tribute to Mr Sanjari in a post on X confirming his death. “Kianoosh Sanjari is not just a name, it is a symbol of years of pain, resistance and struggle for freedom,” he said.

“His death is a warning to all of us that how heavy the price of silence and indifference can be.”

The four political prisoners Mr Sanjari had demanded be released – Fatemeh Sepehri, Nasrin Shakarami, Toomaj Salehi and Arsham Rezaei – were arrested for taking part in protests following the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in 2022.

Ms Amini died in the custody of Iran's morality police, after being detained in Tehran for wearing her hijab “improperly”.

Thousands protested against the government across Iran following her death, leading to mass arrests. Some of those convicted were executed and others given long prison sentences.

Mr Sanjari had been repeatedly arrested and imprisoned by the Iranian authorities between 1999 and 2007 for his pro-democracy and human rights activism.

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

Mr Sanjari returned to Iran in 2016 to be with his parents, and was arrested and sentenced to 11 years imprisonment in Tehran's Evin Prison, where political prisoners are often kept. He was released on bail in 2019 on medical grounds, and subsequently taken to a psychiatric hospital.