An Iranian Political Dissident on Khamenei's Killing and What Comes Next

"He later wrote that he felt "caught between the claws of foreign beasts and domestic torturers, being passed from one to another." His words resonate today, as Israel and the United States bombard Iranian cities. Until very recently, Mahmoudian was one of thousands of prisoners languishing in Iran's prisons."

"He was arrested in January for signing a public letter that blamed the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, for the murders of thousands of protesters, who were cut down by security forces after taking to the streets. By Mahmoudian's count, he has spent about nine of the past sixteen years in prison for his activism."

"This moral compass helped him write the Oscar-nominated film "It Was Just an Accident" with the director Jafar Panahi, whom he met when both were incarcerated in the Evin House of Detention."

Mehdi Mahmoudian, an Iranian dissident and writer, has spent approximately nine of the past sixteen years imprisoned for his activism against the Iranian regime. Arrested in January for signing a public letter criticizing Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei for the deaths of thousands of protesters, Mahmoudian was released from Nowshahr Prison in February. During his multiple incarcerations, including time in the notorious Evin House of Detention, he experienced and witnessed severe abuses. Despite these hardships, Mahmoudian developed empathy for his abusers, a moral perspective that informed his work on the Oscar-nominated film "It Was Just an Accident" with director Jafar Panahi, whom he met while imprisoned. Following Khamenei's death in an air strike, Mahmoudian's response was notably measured rather than celebratory.

Read at The New Yorker