Iranian anti-regime activist who died by suicide buried in Tehran

Warning: This story contains descriptions of self-harm that some readers might find distressing

Iranian activist Kianoosh Sanjari, who died by suicide this week in protest at political imprisonments by the regime, was buried Friday in the capital Tehran.

Sanjari took his own life Wednesday at the age of 42, jumping off a building in downtown Tehran, according to other activists and state media, after threatening to kill himself if four activists detained by the Islamic Republic were not released.

“I will end my life in protest against the dictatorship of (Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah) Khamenei and his partners,” Sanjari had written earlier Wednesday on X, demanding the release of Fatemeh Sepehari, Nasreen Shakrami, Toomaj Salehi and Arsham Rezaei by 7 p.m local time that day.

“No one should be imprisoned for expressing their opinions. Protest is the right of every Iranian citizen,” he wrote in a separate post on Wednesday.

At around 7.20 p.m. local time, Sanjari posted a photo from atop a high structure, with the caption: “7 PM, Hafez Bridge, Charsou.” Charsou Bazaar is a commercial building in downtown Tehran.

“My life will end after this tweet… I wish that one day Iranians wake up and overcome slavery.”

‘Kianoosh is lost’

Hossein Ronaghi, an Iranian human rights activist, confirmed Sanjari’s death Thursday and urged people to attend his funeral Friday.

“It is time to act… as Iranians, we should attend his burial with enthusiasm and respect, to honor this noble and tortured individual,” Ronaghi wrote on X.

The activist warned authorities against disrupting the burial through heightened security. “No one has the right to disrupt the burial, create a security atmosphere, or show any disrespect to this ceremony,” he wrote.

“I swear by Kianoosh’s blood, if any disturbance is caused by security forces or any obstacles are put in the way of people’s presence, I will make you regret it,” Ronaghi said.

Abdollah Momeni, another Iranian activist, said that when he saw Sanjar’s post, he rushed to meet him, only to find “a white sheet thrown” over his body by Hafez Bridge.

“Unfortunately, Kianoosh is lost,” Momeni wrote on X Wednesday.

On Thursday, the state news agency ISNA reported that a judicial case had been opened by the prosecutor’s office in Tehran regarding Sanjari’s suicide. ISNA, citing the Tehran prosecutor’s office, suggested that Sanjari had a history of mental health issues, for which they said he had been hospitalized and given prescription medication.

Repeated detentions

A vocal critic of the Iranian regime, Sanjari was arrested several times between 1999 and 2007, when he was finally released with a bail bond of over $100,000, Amnesty International said. He was accused of “acting against state security” and “propaganda against the system,” according to the human rights organization. Sanjari spent time in Tehran’s notorious Evin Prison, which is known for its long record of human rights abuses.

He left Iran shortly after his release but returned in 2016, when he was arrested again and sentenced to 11 years in prison, according to the IranWire activist outlet. In 2021, he left for the US but later returned to Iran, IranWire said.

Between 2009 and 2013, Sanjari worked for the Persian Service of the US government-funded broadcaster Voice of America in Washington, DC.

VOA’s Persian Service said on Thursday it “expressed shock and grief at the suicide of a former colleague, Kianoosh Sanjari, who jumped to his death from a building in Tehran on Wednesday in protest against Iran’s authoritarian rulers.”