Some Reactions to the Execution of Mohsen Shekari

The execution of Mohsen Shekari, a 23-year-old young protester that took place in Tehran yesterday, sparked severe reactions.

Following these reactions, Gohar Eshghi, the mother of Sattar Beheshti who herself lost her son, said: “My son, I am proud of you. You are a symbol of the oppression of the Iranian people, you are the revealer of the bare crimes of the Islamic Republic against humanity. I feel the burning pain of your mother’s heart, but you and young people like you sacrificed yourselves but not Iran! Your name will never be erased from the history of Iran.”

Hossein Ronaghi also wrote on his Twitter account: “These wounds you inflict on each of us, all of Iran feels the pain of it. The anger of all the people of Iran is seized by it. We do not close our eyes to executions, the execution of every protester will have serious consequences for you. Taking the life of one person is taking the life of all of us! Can you build gallows for all of us?”

Golshifteh Farahani also announced in protest of the execution of Mohsen Shekari: “With the execution of Mohsen Shekari, you have dug the last shovel into your own grave. 1401 is not like 1367, see what happens.”

Ali Karimi also published a photo of Mohsen Shekari on his Twitter page accompanied by a text as follows: “If we remain silent today, tomorrow we will have to tweet #DontExecute for other children of Iran.”

Babak Aghebati, who was a cellmate of Mohsen Shekari in Evin Prison for about twenty days, wrote on his Instagram page: “Mohsen Shekari was executed today, my mind is blowing apart. For about twenty days of my detention in Evin, I was cellmates with Mohsen. Mohsen worked in a cafe and talked about his love of games until morning. He told me stories about ‘God of War’. He spoke of his loneliness. In the final days when I was swimming, he came and swam with me. If he sometimes got extra food, he would give it to me too, he would call me to eat a couple of bites. He would praise me, he praised me a lot. He said you are very stylish, I wish he hadn’t praised me so much. I wish you hadn’t placed your sleeping place in front of my sleeping place in those last nights. I wish that when you came back from interrogation, you hadn’t brought us a bottle of soda. I wish you hadn’t talked about coffee with warmth and how to prepare it. I wish that this morning when I made coffee, you were alive. I wish I hadn’t seen this news, I wish I didn’t feel this bad. I wish I didn’t hate myself this much, I wish…”

Sina Valiollah also announced on his Twitter account: “You have not yet sentenced the armed terrorists at Shahcheragh, how did you kill a young man with empty hands in 3 weeks?”

Other artists in Iran such as Navid Mohammadzadeh, Ladan Tabatabai, Taraneh Alidoosti and many others reacted to the execution of Mohsen Shekari. Taraneh Alidoosti wrote by posting on her Instagram page: “Every international organization that is a spectator to this bloodshed and takes no action is a disgrace to humanity. Now sit down and await the consequences of this bloodshed.”

The Iranian people, by posting on social media pages, also announced by naming the names of those for whom execution sentences have been issued: “This is the last message, execute and then there will be uprising.”

Protests following the execution of Mohsen Shekari continue and the Iranian people have called for mobilization on Saturday and Sunday to be able to defend other loved ones for whom execution sentences have been issued.