Two Minutes in Tehran — Episode 40

Iranian Journalist and Activist Commits Suicide

On Wednesday, Iranian journalist and activist Kianoosh Sanjari tragically committed suicide after pledging to do so the day before if four political prisoners in Iran were not released.
Kianoosh was a lifelong activist fighting for a free Iran. Upon returning to Iran after working in the U.S., he had been arrested nine times for his activism, where he was subject to torture and spent months in solitary confinement.
Today, his loved ones gathered at a ceremony commemorating his life and work.
- According to the website of the cemetery Kianoosh was buried in, security forces buried him one day before the announced date of his ceremony.
- Reports show that his grave was heavily guarded by regime forces, some undercover, and that a lady recording was forced into a van and arrested.

This week, six people known as the “Youth of Ekbatan” were sentenced to death on charges of “waging war against God” and “disruption of public order and peace.”
They were involved in protests in 2022, where a member of the Basij was killed. Although there is little to no evidence connecting them to the murder, they, along with 50 other residents in the neighborhood were arrested.

The regime’s Headquarters for Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice has announced plans to open a clinic dedicated to “treating” women who refuse to wear the mandatory hijab, painting resistance as a mental health issue.
The clinic’s mission statement claims that “the establishment of the center will be for the scientific and psychological treatment of removing the hijab, specifically for the teenage generation, young adults.”