France opens suicide probe after Iranian found dead in Rhône river

French authorities are investigating as suicide the drowning of an Iranian man in the south-eastern city of Lyon who had posted on social media that he would kill himself to draw attention to Iran’s crackdown on protests.

Tributes paid to Mohammad Moradi on December 27, 2022, in Lyon, the day after he took his own life to raise awareness about the situation of the Iranian people. AFP - JEFF PACHOUD

Mohammad Moradi, 38, was found in the River Rhône that flows through the centre of Lyon late on Monday, a police source told French news agency AFP.

Emergency services intervened but were unable to resuscitate him on the riverbank, the source added.

Moradi had posted a video on Instagram saying he was about to drown himself to highlight the crackdown on protesters in Iran since the death in custody of Mahsa Amini, 22, after her arrest in Tehran for an alleged breach of the country’s strict dress code for women.

“When you see this video, I will be dead,” Moradi said, in halting but comprehensible French.

Lyon prosecutors said they had launched a probe to “verify the theory of suicide, in view in particular of the messages posted by the person concerned on social networks announcing his intention” to take his life.

The incident has shocked the city, with a small rally to remember Moradi taking place on the banks of the Rhône on Tuesday.

Mourners placed candles and wreaths on the riverside railings, an AFP correspondent said.

“Mohammad Moradi killed himself to make the voice of revolution heard in Iran. Our voice is not carried by western media,” said Timothee Amini, of the local Iranian community.

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According to several members of the Iranian community, Moradi was a history undergraduate and worked in a restaurant. He had lived in Lyon with his wife for three years.

“His heart was beating for Iran, he could no longer bear the regime,” said Amini.

Protests have gripped Iran for more than three months.

The Oslo-based group Iran Human Rights (IHR) said on Tuesday that 476 protesters have been killed in the crackdown with at least 100 Iranians risking execution over the protests, in addition to two young men already executed.

“The police are attacking people, we have lost a lot of sons and daughters, we have to do something,” Moradi said in the video. “I decided to commit suicide in the Rhone river. It is a challenge, to show that we, Iranian people, we are very tired of this situation,” he added.

(AFP)