Iran threatens crackdown on anniversary of Mahsa Amini’s death – but some refuse to be silenced
“They killed my brother, and now they’re coming for us too.”
These are words from inside Iran that its rulers do not want the world to hear.
Warning: This article contains a graphic image of injury
“They’re taking us hostage,” Reza said. Sky News is not using Reza’s real name to protect his safety.
Reza’s brother was brutally killed during the protests last year. Armed police forced the grieving family to bury his body the same night he died – in an effort to cover up their crimes, he said.
Reza, who is in his late 20s, and his family have been the target of a campaign of harassment and threats by the authorities ever since.
He risks imprisonment, torture and death to speak to Sky News. But despite the government’s efforts, Reza is adamant he won’t be silenced.
And he’s not alone.
Reza is speaking from a small room in Turkey where exiled Iranian activist Shilan Mirzai works in hiding.
She supports victims of the country’s brutal crackdown on protests, which looks set to intensify as the anniversary of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini‘s death in police custody approaches.
“The harder they’re pushing, the harder people fight back,” said Ms Mirzai.
Mahsa Amini’s death sparked mass protests in Iran
Ms Amini’s death last September in the custody of Iran‘s notorious morality police sparked an unprecedented uprising against the regime, which threatened the very existence of the Islamic Republic.
The response of the cleric-led government was brutal and bloody with more than 500 people killed, including 70 children.
Almost a year later, the protests appear to have subsided but the government crackdown continues.
In the past month, Ms Mirzai has seen a sharp rise in the number of the families of those who were imprisoned or killed during the protests reporting threats, harassment and arrests.
Ahead of Saturday’s anniversary, human rights campaigners, activists and academics have reportedly been arrested – including Ms Amini’s uncle and lawyer, and the young journalist who broke the story of her death.
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What happened to the Iran protesters?
“Iran’s government is clearly anxious,” Ms Mirzai said. “They know that people are preparing to reignite the protests.”
But the widespread crackdown on protesters by authorities isn’t just limited to Iran.
Activist Shilan Mirrzaee, who lives in Turkey, is regularly threatened and harassed.
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Defiant protesters push back against morality police’s hijab patrols
“They’re trying to silence me,” she said. She rarely leaves her house and even stopped her son going to school for three months out of fear something might happen to him.
Her family in Iran aren’t safe either. Shilan said they’re being taken “hostage”.
In the past year, her father has been arrested six times for her activism. Her brother and sister have also been arrested. Her sister was threatened with rape.
A police motorcycle burns during a protest last September
But her family has encouraged her not to stop being an activist.
“We can’t speak out ourselves,” her father said, “but you can be our voice”.
“I’m not scared of the Islamic Republic government. Even if they kill my father, I will keep on fighting,” she said.
“We don’t want the Islamic Republic. Dictatorship must end.”
While many protesters prepare to take to the streets once again, others are left grappling with life-changing injuries from last year. Others look on from afar after escaping Iran in search of safety and medical treatment.
A demonstrator holds a picture of Mahsa Amini during a protest last year
Behzad Hamrahi, 44, and his family were forced to seek asylum in Turkey several months ago.
“The guards held my arms behind me,” the father-of-two said. “Another stood less than a metre away, pointing a gun directly at my face. Then everything went black.”
Mr Hamrahi thought he had died. A guard had shot him in his left eye with a paintball gun that contained a dense ball of pressurised plastic.
He lost his eye – one of 600 people to be injured in this way according to doctors in just two provinces. The actual numbers across Iran are likely to be much higher.
Behzad Hamrahi after the attack
Mr Hamrahi was beaten by the guards but before they could take him away, several other protesters carried him to a nearby apartment block and helped him hide.
One of the protesters, a nurse, helped clean the wound. But Mr Hamrahi desperately needed urgent medical care.
“I knew [getting medical treatment] would lead to my arrest,” he said. But he decided to go to a hospital the next day “regardless of the consequences”.
Most clinics and hospitals refused him as it was clear he sustained his injury in the protests.
Behzad Hamrahi now
Mr Hamrahi ended up having his left eye removed in a hospital that he had reasons to believe collaborate with authorities.
Shortly after he was discharged, he was held in prison for a week where he was tortured.
“That’s when I decided that I must leave the country immediately,” he said.
He arrived in Turkey a few days later with his wife and young children.
Around 600 people are believed to have lost an eye in last year’s protests
Mr Hamrahi, now living in a modest apartment in the country, said he doesn’t regret his involvement in the protests “because I fought for a free and prosperous Iran”.
But not everyone feels the same. Reza tells me that the stress and suffering his family has been through since his brother was killed is unbearable.
“The harassment towards our family has been non-stop from day one and it’s only getting worse,” he said.
He promised his family he would not take part in any future protests. “They can’t bear to lose another son,” he said.
Israel has approved a plan to capture all of the Gaza Strip and remain there for an unspecified length of time, Israeli officials say.
According to Reuters, the plan includes distributing aid, though supplies will not be let in yet.
The Israeli official told the agency that the newly approved offensive plan would move Gaza’s civilian population southward and keep humanitarian aid from falling into Hamas’s hands.
On Sunday, the United Nations rejected what it said was a new plan for aid to be distributed in what it described as Israeli hubs.
Israeli cabinet ministers approved plans for the new offensive on Monday morning, hours after it was announced that tens of thousands of reserve soldiers are being called up.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has so far failed to achieve his goal of destroying Hamas or returning all the hostages, despite more than a year of brutal war in Gaza.
Palestinian children struggle to get donated food at a community kitchen in Khan Younis, Gaza. Pic: AP
Officials say the plan will help with these war aims but it would also push hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to southern Gaza, exacerbating an already dire humanitarian crisis.
They said the plan included the “capturing of the strip and the holding of territories”.
It would also try to prevent Hamas from distributing humanitarian aid, which Israel says strengthens the group’s rule in Gaza.
The UN rejected the plan, saying it would leave large parts of the population, including the most vulnerable, without supplies.
It said it “appears designed to reinforce control over life-sustaining items as a pressure tactic – as part of a military strategy”.
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IDF reservists call for end to war in Gaza
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More than 52,000 Palestinians have been killed since the IDF launched its ground offensive in the densely-populated territory, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
It followed the deadly Hamas attacks on Israel, which killed 1,200 people and saw around 250 people taken hostage.
A fragile ceasefire that saw a pause in the fighting and the exchange of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners collapsed earlier this year.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to retaliate against the Houthis and their Iranian “masters” after the group launched a missile attack on the country’s main international airport.
A missile fired by the group from Yemen landed near Ben Gurion Airport, causing panic among passengers in the terminal building.
“Attacks by the Houthis emanate from Iran,” Mr Netanyahu wrote on X. “Israel will respond to the Houthi attack against our main airport AND, at a time and place of our choosing, to their Iranian terror masters.”
Israeli police officers investigate the missile crater. Pic: Reuters
The missile impact left a plume of smoke and briefly halted flights and commuter traffic at the airport. Some international carriers have cancelled flights to and from Tel Aviv for several days.
Four people were lightly wounded, paramedic service Magen David Adom said.
Air raid sirens went off across Israel and footage showed passengers yelling and rushing for cover.
The attack came hours before senior Israeli cabinet ministers were set to vote on whether to intensify the country’s military operations in the Gaza Strip, and as the army began calling up thousands of reserves in anticipation of a wider operation in the enclave.
Houthi military spokesperson Brigadier General Yahya Saree said the group fired a hypersonic ballistic missile at the airport.
Iran’s defence minister later told a state TV broadcaster that if the country was attacked by the US or Israel, it would target their bases, interests and forces where necessary.
Israel’s military said several attempts to intercept the missile were unsuccessful.
Air, road and rail traffic were halted after the attack, police said, though it resumed around an hour later.
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Yemen’s Houthis have been firing missiles at Israel since its war with Hamas in Gaza began on 7 October 2023, and while most have been intercepted, some have penetrated the country’s missile defence systems and caused damage.
Israel has previously struck the group in Yemen in retaliation and the US and UK have also launched strikes after the Houthis began attacking international shipping, saying it was in solidarity with Palestinians over Israel’s war with Hamas.
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