Hossein Ronaghi After Removing Stitches from His Lips: Silence Is Not My Work

Hossein Ronaghi, after having his lip stitches removed at the request of Toumaj Salehi, stated, "We will continue from silence to action, as there is no priority higher than Iran and its people." This political and civil activist wrote on social media platform X on Thursday, December 6: "The stitched lips were a cry against a government that has been committed to the destruction of the rich land of Iran for over four decades, taking away the life, security, and welfare of the Iranian people since the devastating catastrophe of 1979." Mr. Ronaghi expressed that he stitched his lips to, as Kianoush Sanjari said, "perhaps be a wake-up call," and added: "Kianoush sacrificed his life to make the suffering of the Iranian people more apparent. His action had a message for everyone: We stand for Iran until the end of our lives." He regarded Kianoush Sanjari's death as "a step to raise awareness and solidarity" and, without referring to any specific individual or group, stated: "His goal and mine in continuing his path in a different way was never to harm a society that faces countless sufferings and damages daily; rather, it was a wake-up call to those who can create change but seem to have forgotten and ignored the priorities and crises of Iranian society." Hossein Ronaghi also considered his action of stitching his lips as "a reminder of the sufferings of a society" that is daily engaged in oppression, poverty, death, and struggle for survival against a tyrannical government, adding: "I sincerely thank all those who set aside fear during these dark and difficult days and stood together and raised their voices in unison." He reiterated: "Fatemeh Sepahri, Arasham Rezaei, and all political and ideological prisoners must be freed. This is the demand of the Iranian people. My decision is firm: I will not remain silent because silence is not my work. Even if the Islamic Republic arrests me or even kills me." After Kianoush Sanjari, a journalist and colleague of Voice of America, ended his life on Wednesday, November 14, in protest against the conditions of political prisoners in the Islamic Republic, Hossein Ronaghi announced that he would make the Islamic Republic officials "regret" their secret burial of Mr. Sanjari and subsequently staged a sit-in with his lips stitched in various locations in Tehran. Mr. Ronaghi emphasized that his demands were the same as those of Kianoush Sanjari. One day before ending his life, Kianoush Sanjari had announced on social media X that he demanded the release of Fatemeh Sepahri, Arasham Rezaei, Toumaj Salehi, and Nasrin Shakeri, and if news of their release was not published on the website of the Iranian judiciary by "7 PM today, Wednesday, November 14, 2023," he would end his life. The decision of this civil activist and former Voice of America journalist to end his life was met with widespread reactions from political, civil, and cultural activists who held the Islamic Republic responsible for this event. The spokesperson for the U.S. State Department emphasized in a written statement to Voice of America in response to this event that the Islamic Republic government in Iran must end the repression of critics and human rights activists.