Iran International
The suicide of 42-year-old journalist Kianoosh Sanjari on Wednesday has sent shockwaves through Iranian society, sparking outrage among many who hold the Islamic Republic directly responsible for his death.
In a tweet on Tuesday, Sanjari - who was also a former political prisoner - threatened to take his own life if authorities did not release four political prisoners he named by 7:00 pm the following day. Ahead of the deadline, he posted a photo from the top of a shopping complex in central Tehran and, in a subsequent post, expressed his determination to follow through with his decision.
“No one should be imprisoned for expressing their beliefs. My life will end after this tweet but let’s not forget that we die because of our love for life, not death. I hope that Iranians will awaken one day and overcome oppression,” he wrote.
Thousands tried to convince Sanjari in the comments to his tweets not to give up his life while some others mocked him and called him a coward for making what they said was only an empty threat.
Many activists said they attempted to contact him but received no response. Only Two reported visiting him at his home to prevent his suicide. They said his therapist came to meet him when they left Sanjari's house. They added that he later left with the therapist to continue their conversation.
Minutes after Sanjari’s last tweet, some activists announced in their X posts that he had jumped to his death from atop the building. Within minutes, two videos emerged on social media that showed a male victim on a wet pavement in central Tehran. One of the videos showed a woman and a man performing CPR to revive him. The victim was quickly identified as Sanjari in X posts.
Discussion of Sanjari’s suicide has overtaken the Persian-language social media, with most users condemning the Islamic Republic for driving Sanjari to take his own life.
Since 1999, when he was just seventeen, Sanjari was arrested nine times for his political activities and endured extended periods of solitary confinement in prison.
In 2019, he was transferred from prison to a psychiatric facility, where he later reported being repeatedly subjected to painful and debilitating electric shocks and injected with unknown substances.
His funeral will take place on Friday and a large turnout by mourners cannot be ruled out.
An official of Tehran Criminal Court, Mohammad Shahriari, told the media Thursday that the incident was being investigated as a suspicious death and that the police were reviewing CCTV footage from the building.
Shahriari also said that Sanjari’s unnamed therapist who was present at the scene told the authorities that she had spent time with Sanjari that day until a few minutes before the incident when he told her he had changed his mind about taking his life and parted ways.
According to Shahriari, the therapist became suspicious minutes later when Sanjari did not answer her call and returned to the compound to search for Sanjari with the help of the building’s security only to find that he had already jumped to his death.
