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.
Read more:
Teen girl ‘abducted’ and ‘tortured’ by Iranian forces for second time
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.
US President Donald Trump is putting “heavy” pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to end the war in Gaza, two sources close to the ceasefire negotiations have told Sky News.
One US source said: “The US pressure on Israel has begun, and tonight it will be heavy.”
The source, who is not authorised to speak publicly, was referring to the White House dinner on Monday night between Trump and Netanyahu.
A second Middle Eastern diplomatic source agreed that the American pressure on Israel would be intense.
Benjamin Netanyahu gave Donald Trump a letter saying he had nominated him for a Nobel Peace Prize. Pic: AP
Netanyahu arrived in Washington DC in the early hours of Monday morning and held meetings on Monday with Steve Witkoff, Trump’s Middle East envoy, and Marco Rubio, the secretary of state and national security adviser.
The Israeli prime minister plans to be in Washington until Thursday with meetings on Capitol Hill on Tuesday.
Trump has made clear his desire to bring the Gaza conflict to an end.
However, he has never articulated how a lasting peace, which would satisfy both the Israelis and Palestinians, could be achieved.
His varying comments about ownership of Gaza, moving Palestinians out of the territory and permanent resettlement, have presented a confusing policy.
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‘Israel has shifted towards economy of genocide’
Situation for Palestinians worse than ever
Over the coming days, we will see the extent to which Trump demands that Netanyahu accepts the current Gaza ceasefire deal, even if it falls short of Israel’s war aims – the elimination of Hamas.
The strategic objective to permanently remove Hamas seems always to have been impossible. Hamas as an entity was the extreme consequence of the Israeli occupation.
The Palestinians’ challenge has not gone away, and the situation for Palestinians now is worse than it has ever been in Gaza and also the West Bank. It is not clear how Trump plans to square that circle.
Read more:
Explainer – What is the possible Gaza hostage and ceasefire deal?
Israeli soldier describes arbitrary killing of civilians in Gaza
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‘Some Israeli commanders can decide to do war crimes’
Trump’s oft-repeated desire to “stop the killing” is sincere. Those close to him often emphasise this. He is also looking to cement his legacy as a peacemaker. He genuinely craves the Nobel Peace Prize.
In this context, the complexities of conflicts – in Ukraine or Gaza – are often of secondary importance to the president.
If Netanyahu can be persuaded to end the war, what would he need?
The hostages back – for sure. That would require agreement from Hamas. They would only agree to this if they have guarantees on Gaza’s future and their own future. More circles to square.
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Trump 100: We answer your questions
Was White House dinner a key moment?
The Monday night dinner could have been a key moment for the Middle East. Two powerful men in the Blue Room of the White House, deciding the direction of the region.
Will it be seen as the moment the region was remoulded? But to whose benefit?
Trump is a dealmaker with an eye on the prize. But Netanyahu is a political master; they don’t call him “the magician” for nothing.
Listen to The World with Richard Engel and Yalda Hakim every Wednesday
Trump makes decisions instinctively. He can shift position quickly and often listens to the last person in the room. Right now – that person is Netanyahu.
Gaza is one part of a jigsaw of challenges, which could become opportunities.
Diplomatic normalisation between Israel and the Arab world is a prize for Trump and could genuinely secure him the Nobel Peace Prize.
But without the Gaza piece, the jigsaw is incomplete.
World
IDF presence in Gaza ‘only issue’ still to be resolved in push for Israel-Hamas ceasefire, Sky News understands
Only one issue remains unresolved in the push to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza, according to Sky sources.
Intense negotiations are taking place in Qatar in parallel with key talks in Washington between US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Two sources with direct knowledge of the negotiations have told Sky News that disagreement between Israel and Hamas remains on the status and presence of the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) inside Gaza.
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Gaza ceasefire deal in progress
The two sides have bridged significant differences on several other issues, including the process of delivering humanitarian aid and Hamas’s demand that the US guarantees to ensure Israel doesn’t unilaterally resume the war when the ceasefire expires in 60 days.
On the issue of humanitarian aid, Sky News understands that a third party that neither Hamas nor Israel has control over will be used in areas from which the IDF withdraws.
Benjamin Netanyahu briefed reporters on Capitol Hill about the talks on Tuesday. Pic: AP
This means that the controversial Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) – jointly run by an American organisation and Israel – will not be able to operate anywhere where the IDF is not deployed. It will limit GHF expansion plans.
It is believed the United Nations or other recognised humanitarian organisations will adopt a greater role.
On the issue of a US guarantee to prevent Israel restarting the war, Sky News understands that a message was passed to Hamas by Dr Bishara Bahbah, a Palestinian American who has emerged as a key back channel in the negotiations.
Listen to The World with Richard Engel and Yalda Hakim every Wednesday
Read more from Sky News:
Trump puts pressure on Netanyahu
Netanyahu backs Trump for peace prize
Potential Gaza deal explained
The message appears to have been enough to convince Hamas that President Trump will prevent Israel from restarting the conflict.
However, there is no sense from any of the developments over the course of the past day about what the future of Gaza looks like longer-term.
Final challenge is huge
The last remaining disagreement is, predictably, the trickiest to bridge.
Israel’s central war aim, beyond the return of the hostages, is the total elimination of Hamas as a military and political organisation. The withdrawal of the IDF, partial or total, could allow Hamas to regroup.
One way to overcome this would be to provide wider guarantees of clear deliverable pathways to a viable future for Palestinians.
But there is no sense from the negotiations of any longer-term commitments on this issue.
Two key blocks have been resolved over the past 24 hours but the final challenge is huge.
The conflict in Gaza erupted when Hamas attacked southern Israel in October 2023, killing around 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages, according to Israeli figures. Some 20 hostages are believed to remain alive in Gaza.
Israel has killed more than 57,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry, which does not distinguish between combatants and civilians.
World
‘Widespread sexual violence’ took place during Hamas’s 7 October attacks, report by Israeli experts says
A newly released report led by Israeli legal and gender experts presents detailed evidence alleging “widespread and systematic” sexual violence during the Hamas-led terror attack on 7 October.
Warning: This story contains descriptions of rape and sexual violence
The findings, published by the Dinah Project, argue that these acts amount to conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV), and assert that “Hamas used sexual violence as a tactical weapon of war”.
The report draws on 18 months of investigation and is based on survivor testimonies, eyewitness accounts, and interviews with first responders, morgue personnel and healthcare professionals.
According to the Dinah Project, the documented patterns – such as forced nudity, gang rapes, genital mutilation, and threats of forced marriage – indicate a deliberate and coordinated use of sexual violence by Hamas operatives during the attack.
Reported incidents span at least six locations, including the Nova music festival, and several kibbutzim in southern Israel.
A destroyed car near the police station in Sderot, following the 7 October attacks by Hamas. Pic: AP
One section of the report describes victims “found fully or partially naked from the waist down, with their hands tied behind their backs and/or to structures such as trees and poles, and shot”.
At the Nova music festival and surrounding areas, the investigators found “reasonable grounds to believe” that multiple women were raped or gang-raped before being killed.
The report’s findings are consistent with earlier investigations by the United Nations and the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Read more:
What is the possible Gaza hostage and ceasefire deal?
Israeli soldier describes arbitrary killing of civilians in Gaza
The UN’s Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict previously concluded that there were “reasonable grounds to believe” CRSV took place during the attack.
Destroyed vehicles near the grounds of the Supernova electronic music festival. Pic: AP
Significantly, the Dinah Project urges the international community to officially recognise the use of sexual violence by Hamas as a deliberate strategy of war and calls on the United Nations to add Hamas to its list of parties responsible for conflict-related sexual violence.
Listen to The World with Richard Engel and Yalda Hakim every Wednesday
The nature and scale of sexual violence on 7 October have been a subject of intense controversy, with some accusing parties of weaponising the narrative for political ends.
This report seeks to confront what its authors call “denial, misinformation, and global silence,” and to provide justice for the victims.
Hamas has denied that its fighters have used sexual violence and mistreated female hostages.
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