“When you watch this video, I will be dead”. The man who threw himself into the Rhône on Monday had more than premeditated his gesture: he wanted to give it a political impact, to draw attention to the ordeals that Iranians have been going through for months and the death of Mahsa Amini, to rebel against an absolute power that suffocates them.
Mohammad, 38, a history student in Lyon (Rhône) according to Le Progrès, settled with his Iranian wife in the capital of Gaul since 2019, ended his life on Monday around 6 p.m. at avenue Leclerc despite the intervention of passers-by who tried to dissuade him. After about thirty minutes of research, the firefighters divers discovered his body stuck in the water by branches.
His despair: the fate of the Iranians
A little earlier, in a video recorded in Persian then in French, out of breath, Mohammad explains that it is “a suicide video with the aim of making the voice of this revolution heard in the ears of the world”. “Please give your attention to our country. They are alone, the police and the government are extremely violent against people “who are nevertheless” very calm “, he regrets. “The police attack people, we lost a lot of sons and daughters. We have to do something”, “we Iranians are very tired of this situation”, he adds, with great emotion.
According to BFM Lyon, Mohammad had sent a goodbye SMS to a friend. “Then I saw his message on Instagram… I tried to reach him, I thought it was a mistake, I tried to call him eight times in a row, but no answer,” said Thomas. , also a student. Thomas’ mother also tried to contact the police, her husband went to the police station. And to conclude sadly: “We contacted his wife last night, she is totally collapsed, she is all alone now”.
Beneath his two videos, Mohammad wrote the slogan “woman – life – freedom”, the rallying cry of Iranian women who fight against the oppression of the Islamic Republic.
“Mohammad Moradi killed himself to make the voice of the revolution heard in Iran, our voice is not propagated by the Western media”, castigated Timothée Amini, spokesman for some 3,000 members of the community, on Tuesday. Iranian from Lyon during a gathering at the scene of the tragedy, Pont Gallieni (between the 7th and 2nd arrondissements).
“His heart beat for Iran”
In front of many journalists, about forty people placed candles, bouquets of roses and photos of the deceased on the railings, before delivering speeches and songs. “We are entitled to Ukraine every morning, but we hear very little about Iran. It is difficult to live for us, Iranians of the diaspora”, insisted Timothée Amini, political refugee working in data processing. “His heart was beating for Iran, he could no longer support this regime,” he laments.
The Lyon public prosecutor’s office announced to AFP on Tuesday that it had “conducted an investigation into the causes of death, in order to verify the hypothesis of suicide, in view in particular of the messages posted by the person concerned on social networks announcing his intention “. “The investigation will also seek to determine the motive of the facts,” he added.
Iran has been experiencing for more than two months a wave of protest unprecedented since the Islamic Revolution of 1979. It was born out of demands for women’s rights after the death of Mahsa Amini, arrested for having worn the Islamic veil incorrectly, which are transformed into protest against power. In a report published on Tuesday, Iran Human Rights (IHR), an NGO based in Oslo, reported 476 protesters killed since mid-September.