As we mourn Dariush Mehrjui and Vahideh Mohammadifar we seek justice. Before the atrocious murder of filmmaker and translator Dariush Mehrjui and screenwriter, costume designer and assistant producer Vahideh Mohammadifar, we are left grieving and enraged. Whoever has the slightest historical memory will make the connection between this crime and the “political chain murders of Iranian intellectuals and dissidents” as well as the heinous hanging of Kiumars Pourahmad and the publication of images of his wounded corpse. This demonstrates the horrific conditions that our society has had to grapple with on a continuous basis. It was only a year ago when, with reference to the confiscation of his last film, the late Mehrjui openly cried out before the camera that “I protest!” “Who are you? Concealed behind the curtains, like spectres issuing rulings.” He declared that he had run out of patience before the ravages and rampages of the regime. “Come,” he said, “I bare my chest, strike, kill, but I will claim my rights.”
At the funeral of our two colleagues, their daughter, Mona, repeated his words: “The assassins are among us.” It is this very understanding of the situation that is influencing public opinion, generating grave associations and recollections of the names of many dissidents that have suffered a similar fate at the hands of those who wield the dagger: from Fereydoun Farrokhzad to Abdorrahman Boroumand and Shapour Bakhtiar to Parvaneh Eskandari and Dariush Forouhar, Hamid and Karoon Hajizadeh, Ebrahim Zalzadeh and Kazem Sami and many others. In such a whirlpool of violence and deceit, insisting on the exposure of the unvarnished truth and standing for the right to security, freedom and justice is the obligation of every citizen and the moral duty of each and everyone of us.
At a time when this Islamist theocracy seeks to create fear, and victimizes activists of the “Woman, Life, Freedom” movement who are in solidarity with other democratic and freedom seeking movements, we stand by those who mourn and seek justice for these two dissidents and their progressive slogans of protest. We call on all our colleagues—in full knowledge that they face constant threats and intimidation—not to fall silent but to give voice to the pain and suffering so that the murderers realize that dissidents and activists who have chosen the path of free speech are not alone.
October 2023
Art/Culture/Action
En signe de deuil pour Dariush Mehrjui et Vahideh Mohammadifar, nous réclamons justice.