The Singer of the Mourning Anthem 'Where Are All the Mahsas?' Arrested; Prosecutor of Takestan: 'It Caused Public Disturbance'

A mourner who sang a protest anthem about the killing of protesters by the Islamic Republic's forces during the mourning ceremonies of Muharram was arrested in Takestan. Mohammad Samadi, the prosecutor of Takestan County in Qazvin Province, on Wednesday, August 2, without naming the arrested mourner, referred to him as 'insulting' and claimed that this protester sang a poem in a mourning procession that 'caused public disturbance.' According to the Young Journalists Club, a website affiliated with the Islamic Republic's broadcasting service, the prosecutor of Takestan also claimed that singing this protest anthem provided 'food' for media outlets he labeled as 'anti-revolutionary,' and for this reason, a case has been opened against this protesting mourner in 'one of the branches of the Takestan Prosecutor's Office.' In recent days, during Muharram, a video circulated on social media showing that in a mourning procession, mentioning the names of several killed and executed protesters, a critical and questioning anthem was sung with the lyrics: 'We must fear you, we must ask you, where are all the Mahsas, where are all the Nikas, where are all the Navids, where are all the Yaldas.' During the first ten days of Muharram this year, which annually commemorates the killing of Hussein, the third Imam of Shia Muslims and his companions in Karbala, protest-themed mourning anthems referencing the deaths of protesters due to the repression by the Islamic Republic's forces were sung.