David Ryfisch

Protecting the climate through policy and finance. @Germanwatch. Invested in safeguarding democracy and supporting those who fight for it. Views are my own.

[Holly Dagres @hdagres]

"I wish I didn't have to know the difference between a B-2 plane and an F-35... I wish we could have spent our entire youth simply enjoying literature..."

This was a beautiful read on the complexities of war from an anonymous writer in Tehran.
https://t.co/P8LjUWhQJf

[Omid Nouripour @nouripour]

Der Druck auf das Regime muss erhöht werden, das heißt: Betätigungsverbot für die Schergen des Regimes, einfrieren ihrer Vermögenswerte und Aufmerksamkeit für die politischen Gefangenen, die Zukunft eines freien Irans.

[Natalie Amiri @NatalieAmiri]

Teheran, nachdem die Nachricht Khamenei ist getötet worden, öffentlich wurde:

[Omid Nouripour @nouripour]

In diesen Stunden sind meine Gedanken bei den Menschen im Iran – bei all jenen, die sich angesichts von ständiger Angst, Gewalt, Unterdrückung und wirtschaftlicher Not nichts sehnlicher wünschen als einfach nur: Freiheit.
#Iran #ایران #آزادی

[Navid Mohebbi نوید محبی @navidmohebbi]

🚨Despite the massacre, the people of Iran have not been silenced. Iranians in Mamasani, Fars province chanting:

"The Shah is coming back to his country, Mamasani stands behind him."

"Sickle, hammer, turban, ’1979 is over."

"Down with Khamenei."

"Long live the Shah."

[Nazanin Nour @NazaninNour]

Girls took off their mandatory headscarves and chanted “AZADI,” which means freedom.

Tehran University of Art.

Today, February 24th, day 4 of widespread university protests.

[Omid Nouripour @nouripour]

Die Friedensnobelpreisträgerin Narges Mohammadi gehört frei – und mit ihr alle politischen Gefangenen im Iran. Doch das Schweigen Europas ist ohrenbetäubend.
Ohne Aufmerksamkeit gibt es keinen Schutz.
Mehr dazu im Interview 👇
https://t.co/EcJmRExuvu

[Golineh Atai @GolinehAtai]

“When Masih Alinejad took to the stage at @GenevaSummit , a few people at the back of the hall shouted #JavidShah (‘Long live the Shah’) while others shouted #WomanLifeFreedom. Alinejad told the audience: ‘Both of them are being killed in #Iran for these slogans! I am fighting so that both of them can shout their beliefs freely without fear of being killed!’”

[Navid Mohebbi نوید محبی @navidmohebbi]

💔 Today marks forty days since thousands of Iranians were killed after rising up heroically on January 9.

Despite an atmosphere of suffocating repression, their families are honoring their memory with dance and celebration.

Khamenei has not been able to break the spirit of the Iranian people.

📍Chamestan, Mazandaran province

#Saman_Alaei

[Navid Mohebbi نوید محبی @navidmohebbi]

✌️From every corner of Iran, heroes have laid down their lives for freedom.

Not even the massacre of 40,000 people, widespread arrests, torture & executions could keep people in their homes on the fortieth day of remembrance for the fallen.

📍Najaf Abad

[Nazanin Boniadi @NazaninBoniadi]

Because translations can miss nuance, here is the question I had prepared for the Prince at @MunSecConf (not delivered verbatim). The underlying point — as @PahlaviReza articulated and as Mandela modeled — is that vengeance must never be confused with justice or accountability. That distinction must begin at a cultural level.

“Shahzadeh, you have consistently affirmed your commitment to a tolerant, secular democracy — and many who long for a free Iran look to you because you have stood by those ideals for decades, emphasizing the need to build not only democratic institutions, but a democratic culture.

The brutality of the Islamic Republic has left profound wounds. Many Iranians feel an understandable disdain for the regime — even a desire for vengeance. But history shows that revolutions fueled by anger alone often reproduce the injustice they sought to end.

So my question is this:

How can those of us who want this movement to succeed help transform justified anger into the disciplined work of building a secular, liberal democracy? What should civil society and the diaspora be doing now to channel this moment toward reconciliation, institutions, and the rule of law — so that we are prepared not merely to end tyranny, but to build liberty?”

[Isabel Schayani @isabelschayani]

Auf 100.000 hatten sie gehofft, 250.000 kamen Menschen nach #Muenchen!
Vor allem um gegen das staatliche Morden zu demonstrieren und sich hinter @PahlaviReza zu stellen. Das gefällt nicht allen, aber die Hoffnung, mit ihm und den USA einen Regimechange hinzukriegen, ist riesig.

[Karim Sadjadpour @ksadjadpour]

The Islamic Republic’s war against the Iranian people continues, targeting doctors who’ve treated injured protestors as well as grieving families. More than 40,000 people have been detained. https://t.co/wg3bf5EQk4

[Simin Fahandej @siminfa]

Baha’is in #Iran once again scapegoated

[Samuel Oakford @samueloakford]

Iran’s killing of protesters reached level rarely seen, emergent count shows https://t.co/kigVcjnuVG

[Golineh Atai @GolinehAtai]

“In a small city like Gorgan there are arrests every day. And bizarre sentences handed down in less than 2 weeks. For three days now they’ve been going to the schools, conducting body searches and checking the phones. If they find any pellet traces or bullet wounds, they arrest them. I've been posting about this, but I don't have enough followers. Please, if you can, spread the word about this issue. Students who aren't aware of it could be in danger.”
#IranMassacre

[Navid Mohebbi نوید محبی @navidmohebbi]

Graffiti in Tehran dated Feb. 3:

“President Trump, don’t negotiate with the killers of the people of Iran.”

The Islamic Republic regime in Iran is using these negotiations to crush the soul and hope of a nation that has just endured a historic civilian massacre.

[Reza Younesi رضا يونسى @RezaYounesi]

Some might expect protests in Iran to have ceased after thousands were killed by regime forces and many more were arrested. Yet, over the past three days, university students at at least seven universities in Shiraz, Tehran, Isfahan, Ahvaz, Tabriz, and Mashhad have continued to protest against the regime.
#IranMassacre

[Narges Mohammadi | نرگس محمدی @nargesfnd]

Iran Arrests Three Signatories of Statement Calling for Accountability of Supreme Leader

Three Iranian civil society figures, Vida Rabbani, Abdollah Momeni, and Mehdi Mahmoudian, have been arrested after signing a joint statement that held Iran’s Supreme Leader and ruling establishment responsible for what the signatories described as an “organized state crime against humanity.”

The statement, issued on January 28, 2026, was endorsed by seventeen prominent Iranian human rights defenders, filmmakers, lawyers, and civil society activists. It condemned the authorities’ violent crackdown on protesters, citing the use of live ammunition against civilians, mass killings, arbitrary arrests, attacks on the wounded, and the denial of medical care.

The signatories said these actions constituted crimes against humanity and placed direct responsibility on Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and the Islamic Republic’s governing structure. They called for the prosecution of officials responsible for the repression, the release of all political prisoners, and a democratic transition through a national referendum and constituent assembly.

In the statement, they wrote:

"Iran can only be saved by prosecuting those behind repression, ending this inhumane system, and allowing the people to democratically determine their political future. May freedom rise over our homeland.”

#VidaRabbani #MehdiMahmoudian #AbdollahMomeni #Iran

[Navid Mohebbi نوید محبی @navidmohebbi]

🚨A never-ending crowd of Iranians in Dusseldorf, Germany, marching in solidarity with the Iran uprising and calling for international intervention.

The diaspora will not rest until help is delivered to defenseless Iranians inside Iran.

January 31, 2026