As Iran marks the second anniversary of the 2022 uprising, political prisoners from different parts of the country are commemorating the event with ceremonies and messages of resistance. These acts are happening despite the growing repressive measures by the regime.
Mahsa (Zhina) Amini, a 22-year-old woman, was arrested on Tuesday, September 13, 2022, in Tehran by the regime’s so-called “Guidance Patrol” and transferred to the “Moral Security” agency. Amini was severely beaten by the security forces. She later lost consciousness due to her wounds and was transferred to the capital’s Kasra Hospital, where she entered a state of coma that continued until her death on September 16.
Amini’s death triggered protests in Tehran, her hometown Saqqez and other cities. The protests quickly turned into a nationwide movement against the regime’s repression of freedoms. Protesters called for the overthrow of the regime. The regime responded with repression and violence, arresting, beating and killing protesters. More than 750 protesters were murdered by security forces and several thousand were arrested.
To mark the second anniversary of the uprising, a group of supporters of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI) held a ceremony in the women’s ward of Evin Prison.
The imprisoned women paid tribute to all the martyrs of the uprising, and some of them gave speeches about the 2022 uprising. The political prisoners praised the role of freedom fighters, especially for bringing the slogan “Death to the oppressor, be it the shah or the mullahs” to the public.
The attendees also shared their personal memories of moments from the uprising and the scenes they witnessed firsthand.
Political prisoners in Ghezel Hesar prison (Karaj), held a ceremony on the second anniversary of the 2022 uprising.
This event, which began in memory of Zhina Amini and other martyrs, continued with poetry and singing, including the song “Our Mahsa is gone and did not return home,” and concluded with revolutionary slogans. Some of the slogans included: “Torture and prison, the punishments of rebellion and execution, ignite the uprising,” “The vanguard of Iran, the martyrs of Shahrivar (September), uproot every oppressor,” and “Our message from prison: resistance, struggle…”
On the anniversary of the 2022 uprising and on the eve of the new academic year, Amirhossein Moradi and Ali Younesi, two students incarcerated in Evin Prison, sent a message to “all those who turned the streets into a university of resistance” and “all comrades behind prison bars”:
The two elite students of Sharif University of Technology said, “Our generation is the generation of uprising—the same generation that fought fully in the Mahsa uprising, was arrested, martyred, but never surrendered and never will.”
The two political prisoners added, “Those who fought in the previous uprising in schools are now entering universities, and those still in school have the experience of the 2022 uprising. This is the regime’s nightmare with the start of the academic year. From this date, the regime must also expect a response from schools and universities for every crime.
“The powder keg of anger and hatred accumulated from executions, massacres, and oppression only needs a spark to explode; a spark that can be ignited in schools or universities, starting a nationwide uprising until the regime is overthrown.
From schools and universities to the streets, there is a blood pact until the end of the road and the dawn of freedom.
Younesi and Moradi went missing on April 10, 2020. After 26 days, the Iranian regime’s judiciary admitted to having apprehended them and holding them in custody.
The regime accused them of being in touch with the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK). They were severely tortured and subjected to long solitary confinement. They were sentenced to 16 years in prison by the regime’s judiciary.
Younesi won the gold medal of the 12th International Olympiad on Astronomy and Astrophysics, held in China in 2018. Earlier, he had won the silver and gold medals of the National Astronomy Olympiad in 2016 and 2017. Amir Hossein also won the Olympiad silver medal in 2017.