EXCLUSIVE - Mahsa Amini Told Eyewitness Police Struck Her In The Head

The Canadian popstar used his platform of about 260 million followers on Instagram to raise awareness about the current uprising in Iran with a story of Iranian protesters holding a photo of Mahsa Amini, whose tragic death in the custody of hijab police triggered worldwide rallies against the Islamic Republic. 

The Persian hashtag that has been trending in support of Mahsa, also known as Zhina or Jina, has been retweeted more than 100 million times, and still counting. 

This is by far the highest number of retweets in the history of Twitter, about 25 times more than the trendiest hashtags on the social media platform so far. This has been achieved thanks to numerous celebrities and political figures as well as human rights activists and organizations. 

Iranian celebrities, both from inside the country and abroad as well as athletes from many national teams have expressed support for the uprising despite repeated threats and warning by authorities about banning them from their professions. 

Several foreign singers and artists have also dedicated pieces to the 22-year-old Mahsa, including pop singer Chris de Burgh and community-driven rock star Yungblud.

Legendary co-founder of Pink Floyd Roger Waters has posted a few times since last week, expressing anger over Mahsa’s death. 

Masoud Kazemi, a dissident journalist and a close friend of Ronaghi who resides in Turkey, said on Sunday that Ronaghi made a phone call to his mother from prison and told her that the prison guards had broken his leg. 

Last week, security agents raided Ronaghi's house to arrest him after his interviews and posts in support of the ongoing protests, but he managed to escape and evade arrest without a warrant. However, on Saturday, he presented himself to prosecutors with his two lawyers and all three were arrested.

He was arrested several times in the past decade and has staged hunger strikes in prison. Ronaghi was first arrested, along with his brother Hassan, in the aftermath of the disputed presidential elections in 2009 for helping journalists and political activists to circumvent internet censorship. He was also charged with insulting Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in his blog posts.

Ronaghi was one of the first this year to focus his activities against a bill by hardliner lawmakers to introduce highly restrictive internet policies

In an interview with Germany's Bild published on January 28, Ronaghi spoke about losing his kidney while in Evin Prison. "I'm still suffering from the effects of the torture, but the good thing is that I'm still alive and can continue," he said.

Iran’s oil and gas industries that have remained its main financial providers, have been deprived of Western investments and technology since the 1980s due to Tehran’s anti-Western foreign policy. As a result, the government has been constantly advertising the great benefits of cooperation with Russia and China and hinting at tens of billions of dollars in possible trade and investments.

Morteza Behruzifar, an energy expert in Tehran told the ILNA news website recently that a recent memorandum of understanding with Russia for building LNG terminals in Iran and for swapping natural gas will not lead anywhere. Russia has never invested in Iran’s energy sector perhaps because it perceives Iran as a potential competitor, especially in exports to Europe.

In July, Iran’s national oil company announced it had reached a $40-billion agreement with Russia’s Gazprom to develop joint energy projects, including pumping Russian gas to Iran for a potential swap deal. Ostensibly, Iran will deliver the gas to Russian customers, but this is unrealistic because none of Iran’s neighbors currently buys Russian gas, except for Turkey that has its own direct pipeline.

A gas swap would have made sense if Iran had liquified natural gas (LNG) technology and terminals to export gas to markets such as Europe. The other theoretic possibility would be for Russia to help build this technology, but Moscow itself must rely on Western companies to build an LNG export infrastructure.

“Until now Russia has not been able to build even the smallest LNG plant for itself,” Behruzifar said, adding that there are just a handful of Western firs that are capable of infrastructure for LNG export. “We should not have any expectation that Russia can help us” in this field he maintained.

He also explained that the only technology Russia and Iran have available is to build underwater pipelines in shallow seas, such as a segment of the Persian Gulf between Iran and the United Arab Emirates, but Abu Dhabi would hardly agree to that given outstanding security and regional issues with Tehran.

India is another possible market for Russian gas through Iran, but the problem is that a pipeline must pass through Pakistan, an option New Delhi does not like because it will establish a leverage for Islamabad.

The other possible rout for exports would be a pipeline to Oman, but that requires deep-water technology that both countries do not have. In fact, Nord Stream 2 was built by European companies, which will not deal with Iran and Russia, both under stringent sanctions.

“Even before the war with Ukraine [Russia] had not invested a penny in Iran,” abiding by all United States’ sanctions, Behruzifar said.

Russia has always been Iran’s competitor in the energy sector, never its partner, the analyst said. It would never allow Iran to become a natural gas exporter to Europe, he added.

However, the clerical government in Iran having failed to normalize relations with Washington has doubled down on its policy of partnering with Russia. Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in a meeting with Vladimir Putin in Tehran in July praised his “initiative” of invading Ukraine, describing it as a necessary reaction to the West and NATO.

According to the information, Nouhi has asked at least three fellow cardiologists to certify that Mahsa Amini -- the young woman whose death in custody of hijab enforcement police has inspired an uprising across Iran -- had heart problems before her arrest.

Nouhi, who served as the director of the Iranian Cardiology Association, is the head of the Rajaie Cardiovascular, Medical and Research Center. 

Since the death of the 22-year-old woman, Iranian authorities have been trying to convince the public that she died of a heart attack despite evidence that she was beaten to death following several blows to her head. 

The skull CT scan of Amini shows bone fracture, hemorrhage and brain edema, Iran International revealed last week. The medical documents and dozens of exclusive images sent to Iran International by a hacktivist group vividly show a skull fracture on the right side of her head caused by a severe trauma to the skull, which corroborate earlier accounts by her family and doctors. 

Iranian police released CCTV footage, which shows Amini collapsing in the police station, in an effort to reject the evidence. The authorities also brought a neurosurgeon, Dr. Massoud Shirvani, on state TV on September 20 who claimed Mahsa had a brain tumor removed at the age of eight.

“Mahsa Amini was treated with drugs after the surgery under the supervision of an endocrinologist,” the physician said.

In a statement on behalf of the EU, Josep Borrell said that “despite repeated calls for restraint, the response of the Iranian security and police forces to demonstrations has been disproportionate and resulted in the loss of lives as well as a large number of injuries.”

“The EU and its member states urge the Iranian authorities to strictly abide by the principles enshrined in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Iran is a party,” he said, calling on the Islamic Republic “to immediately stop the violent crackdown on protests and ensure internet access, as well as the free flow of information.”

The statement also urged “Iran to clarify the number of deaths and arrested, release all non-violent protestors and provide due process to all detainees.”

The EU also said the killing of Mahsa Amini – whose death in custody of hijab police triggered -- must be duly investigated and any proved responsible for her death must be held accountable.

“The European Union will continue to consider all the options at its disposal ahead of the next Foreign Affairs Council, to address the killing of Mahsa Amini and the way Iranian security forces have responded to the ensuing demonstrations,” read the statement. 

The Wall Street Journal’s journalist Laurence Norman quoted some unnamed diplomats as telling him on Sunday that "There will be EU sanctions on Iran over its crackdown on the protests.”