Cry from Evin: A Jailed Lawyer Makes Direct Accusations Against Ali Khamenei

“Mohammad Najafi,” a jailed lawyer from Evin, has exposed Ali Khamenei’s role in bloodshed by rejecting a referendum.

A brief audio message from inside Evin prison has once again lifted the curtain on the deep rift between Iran’s ruling system and society; a message in which Mohammad Najafi, a jailed lawyer and human rights activist, with an unprecedented and forthright tone, directly holds Ali Khamenei responsible for dragging the country into violence, bloodshed, and political collapse.

Mohammad Najafi, in this message released from inside Evin prison, characterizes the government’s refusal to accept the public demand for holding a referendum as the root cause of widespread protests and the country’s current crises. Addressing the Leader of the Islamic Republic, he says: “I had warned you—for the sake of Iran and to prevent war and bloodshed, make the ‘big decision,’ accept the referendum so matters don’t escalate to bloodshed and force against the people, but you didn’t decide, you didn’t die and you killed.”

These statements come at a time when Iran has witnessed one of the most widespread and bloodiest waves of popular protests in recent months, with violent crackdowns on protesters triggering widespread domestic and international reactions. In his message, Najafi emphasizes that the closure of all paths for reform, civil protest, and political participation has driven society to the brink of explosion.

Mohammad Najafi, a lawyer and renowned human rights figure, has long been subjected to security pressures for pursuing cases related to massacres, torture, and violations of political prisoners’ rights. He has been arrested multiple times and sentenced to a total of over 14 years in prison; sentences that, according to human rights organizations, have been issued solely for exercising the right to free speech and performing his professional duties as a lawyer.

Continuing in this audio message, Najafi, with a much harsher tone, accuses Khamenei of being directly responsible for bloodshed by misusing religion, saying: “In the name of Islam and religion, he has spilled the blood of the nation’s youth and built minarets from corpses.” A statement that clearly demonstrates the depth of the speaker’s anger and despair toward Iran’s power structure.

This jailed lawyer also describes Khamenei as a leader “waist-deep in people’s blood” and continues, addressing him: “You have turned fellow citizens against each other; the blood of both sides is on your neck. You are the one who closed all paths of reform and protest.”

At the end of his message, Najafi paints a bitter picture of the country’s condition and says: “One must weep for a nation whose leader is Khamenei.”

Mohammad Najafi’s message is not merely a personal protest from inside prison, but a political indictment against a structure that, according to critics, by eliminating the ballot box, suppressing dissenting voices, and closing every path for peaceful change, has driven society toward violence. In recent years, the demand for holding a referendum as a low-cost way to overcome the crisis has been repeatedly raised by civil activists, human rights lawyers, and even some political figures, but has always been met with outright rejection by the authorities.

Now, the voice of a jailed lawyer from within Evin has brought this question back to the forefront of public consciousness: “When all paths are closed, who is responsible for the blood that is spilled?”

Mohammad Najafi’s message from inside Evin prison cannot be viewed merely as a personal protest or an emotional outcry; this message is the naked articulation of a political reality: “Violence is the direct product of political obstruction, not a sudden street reaction.”

In all political systems, a referendum is the final safety valve before social explosion. When the power structure cannot even tolerate this minimal instrument, it effectively places society before a choice: either absolute submission or costly protest. Iran’s experience has shown that the ruling system not only has failed to encourage submission but has also criminalized even peaceful protest.

What Najafi refers to with the term “big decision” is precisely this historical juncture, a moment when the leader of a system must choose between preserving power at any cost and preserving the lives of people. Refusing to hold a referendum, especially in conditions of widespread crisis, is not indecision but a conscious choice; a choice whose price is paid not by rulers but by citizens with their lives.

A ruling system that closes all paths of reform, stifles the media, eliminates parties, suppresses protesters, and imprisons lawyers defending human rights can no longer speak of “unrest.” In such a structure, protest is not deviation but society’s natural reaction to complete obstruction.

The importance of Najafi’s message lies in transferring responsibility from the level of “street events” to the apex of the power pyramid. When he says: “You have turned fellow citizens against each other; the blood of both sides is on your neck,” he is in fact referring to a fundamental principle of politics: “Whoever closes legal paths is the architect of the scene of violence; even if they do not personally take up arms.”

Bloody suppression of protests, imprisoning critics, and completely eliminating political participation all demonstrate that Iran’s problem is not “temporary mismanagement” but a structural crisis of legitimacy. Under such circumstances, the demand for a referendum is not a radical demand but the minimum of political rationality; a demand whose rejection effectively gives the green light to continued bloodshed.

Najafi’s voice from Evin is a reminder of this bitter truth: that prisons in Iran are no longer places to silence voices, but have become unwanted platforms for exposing truth. A truth that says: “When voting is forbidden, the street replaces the ballot box, and when the ballot box is eliminated, the person responsible for the blood is clear.”

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