Maria Papaefstathiou

Athlete-welfare researcher and teacher. Curious about social phychological matters. Lifelong learner.

[Maria Papaefstathiou @mpapaF]

For anyone interested on athlete welfare, I’d recommend reading the “Routledge Handbook of Athlete Welfare” edited by @DrMelLang. I had the pleasure to collaborate with Mel on a chapter discussing criminal history checks as a tool for abuse prevention in sport. #athletewelfare

[Professor Melanie Lang @DrMelLang]

Really enjoyed working with .@mpapaF on this chapter on criminal history checking in sport for preventing #Abuse #AthleteWelfare thanks maria!

[Masih Alinejad @AlinejadMasih]

After killing her, Iran’s security forces stormed the morgue, sexually abused, and sent the images to her husband as a weapon of terror.

Today in a deeply disturbing case, Ahmad Khodaei, husband of Salehe Akbari, an Iranian nurse who secretly helped wounded protester during the January uprising, has reportedly attempted suicide following months of pressure, threats, and alleged abuse by Iranian security forces.

Ahmad had sent me all the evidence the psychological torture he endured, and the details of how his wife was shot directly to my Instagram.

Today, I was shocked to learn that he has attempted suicide.

Akbari, a nurse and outdoor enthusiast, was shot dead inside her home during a raid by security agents. Ahmad was beaten, detained for 11 days, and repeatedly threatened to remain silent about what he witnessed.

Khodaei said that after killing his wife, agents later accessed her body in the morgue and committed acts of sexual abuse, sending him images in what appears to be a deliberate attempt to psychologically torture him.

The couple had been helping injured protesters seek medical care, avoiding state-run hospitals out of fear of arrest. Days later, their home was targeted.

Following his release from detention, Ahmad have faced ongoing harassment and intimidation. The sustained psychological pressure have driven him to attempt to take his own life. His current condition remains unclear.

This is what a brutal regime does when it fears its own people.

Salehe and Ahmad were a young couple in love, their lives filled with hope, their days filled with purpose. They were saving the lives the wounded. And for that, she was shot in her home.
He was detained, threatened, and psychologically broken.

The world cannot look away.

#IranMassacre

[Masih Alinejad @AlinejadMasih]

Six years ago, when regime in Iran hanged wrestler Navid Afkari, I launched the United for Navid campaign alongside 50 athletes and activists. We warned the world. No action.
Now it’s happening again.
More protesters. More athletes. On death row.

This time, please don’t look away.
Join us to stop the executions and end the root cause of the endless war in the region: the Islamic Republic.

Thanks CBS for letting me say their names on air.

These five people are not numbers. Not statistics.
They are human beings, executed in Iran for protesting.

#IranMassacre

[Masih Alinejad @AlinejadMasih]

This should have been on the front page of The New York Times.
I speak to students in America and most have no idea that more than 30,000 Iranians were killed for protesting and demanding freedom.
No names. No faces. No coverage. This silence kills me.💔

Thank you, Australia.

[Masih Alinejad @AlinejadMasih]

Our families in Iran are being held hostage. We don’t even know if many of them are alive because the regime has cut the internet.
I call on every anti-war activist, every human rights defender, everyone who is following the situation with concern: demand that the international community help restore internet access to Iran.
People inside the country are sending desperate messages:
“Please help us reconnect to the world.”
Will you stand with the Iranian people so our voices are not buried in silence?
#DigitalBlackout

[Masih Alinejad @AlinejadMasih]

Do not stop talking about Iran.
This is what is happening right now.
Taha Soleimani, a 19-year-old young man, disappeared on Friday, January 9.
Twenty days later on January 29, his body was returned to his family from Kahrizak, bearing clear signs of torture.
Taha was buried in Behesht Zahra Cemetery.
His family clapped as they laid him to rest, not in celebration,
but in defiance, in grief, in rage.
This is #IranMassacre today.

[Masih Alinejad @AlinejadMasih]

Stop giving a platform to these Fucking Killers @piersmorgan! You don’t debate #IranMassacre, you stop it.
I explained why, and to his credit, he respected the demand of millions of Iranians.

I also have a message to: @10DowningStreet
@EmmanuelMacron

[Masih Alinejad @AlinejadMasih]

I spoke to @WSJ about Iran’s uprising; Supporting unarmed people who are being slaughtered in the street is
not intervention. It’s not charity. It is the duty of the free world. Islamic Republic behaves like ISIS and must be treated like ISIS.
@WSJFreeEx
https://t.co/8zJcpAb2KJ

[Masih Alinejad @AlinejadMasih]

Aida Aghili was 34.
loved nature, dance, and Iran.
Islamic Security forces answered her with a bullet during recent uprising.💔

She was shot in the head with live ammunition. After days of searching, her family found her body in Kahrizak.

She was active on social media.
Her final Instagram story, posted January 5, about a week before she was killed, was an AI-generated image of herself embracing Iran.

After she was killed, that image spread everywhere.

[Masih Alinejad @AlinejadMasih]

I am a woman from a small village in northern Iran.
Jailed for protesting.
Beaten for showing my hair.
Expelled from parliament for exposing their corruption.
Forced into exile.
My sister was paraded on state TV to publicly disown me.
My brother was imprisoned as punishment.
My mother was interrogated to stop her from expressing love for me.
Assassins were sent to New York, three times, to kill me.
And now I’m supposed to sit next to them at the U.N. Security Council.
Thanks @USAmbUN for finally giving me a seat, so I can call out the regime, and the U.N. leadership that still legitimizes it.
This is my full address to the UN Security Council about
#IranRevoIution2026 and a massacre unfolding in Iran.

[Masih Alinejad @AlinejadMasih]

Message received from Iran.

Masih, tell the world we have not given up. We cannot come to the streets because armed forces are at every corner. If they see more than two people together, they start shooting. People are too scared to even leave their homes. Tell Trump we are trapped inside, waiting for them to be pushed back so we can return to the streets. We will not retreat, even if we are all killed. We have nothing left to lose.
💔✌🏻

#IranRevolution2026
#DigitalBlackoutIran

[Masih Alinejad @AlinejadMasih]

The United States has invited me to address the United Nations Security Council on Iran today.
Millions of Iranians have been m
massacred. Empty statements and condemnations do not save lives. This regime cannot be reformed help us the END it!

#IranianRevolution2026

[Maria Papaefstathiou @mpapaF]

@VassiliouEU Θερμά συλλυπητήρια κ Βασιλείου. Αιωνία η μνήμη στον κ Βασίλειου.

[Masih Alinejad @AlinejadMasih]

One of Iran’s biggest mosques burned during uprising.

Don’t panic. This isn’t chaos.
It’s 47 years of rage.
For 47 years, after every Allahu Akbar from these minarets, innocent Iranians were executed by an Islamist regime.

[Roberta Metsola @EP_President]

The world is once again witnessing the brave people of Iran stand up.

Europe stands by their side.

[Masih Alinejad @AlinejadMasih]

Watch the flood of people in Iran’s streets.
More than 20 people have been killed. Thousands detained. Yet the people did not give up their fights. This is a nation refusing to surrender.
World leaders, media, human rights organizations: do not stay silent.
This is city of Abdanan in western #Iran.

[Maria Papaefstathiou @mpapaF]

@AnnaZP83 Θα επανέλθουν για να κάνουν και τη χούβερ για τις λεπτομέρειες - δώσε χρόνο 😅

[Masih Alinejad @AlinejadMasih]

My heart breaks for the innocent civilians, the children, the families, under attack in Iran. No one is helping them.
And this is my message to @khamenei_ir the coward, the spineless so-called leader, hiding in a bunker while using Iranian people as human shields. Disgusting. Shameful.
No sirens. No warnings. No shelters. No instructions. The people of Iran are on their own.

[Masih Alinejad @AlinejadMasih]

🚨 This is the moment the Islamic Republic of Iran’s State TV was hit live on air.
A key symbol of regime propaganda.
Wow, What can I say…
They used that same TV to bring my own family on air to disown me, publicly.
They broadcast lies that I was raped by three men after I launched a campaign against forced hijab.
I’ve watched them drag dozens of women and men onto that screen, forcing false confessions under pressure and torture.

I am worried for the people of Iran. I always will be.

This was never the people’s war.
This is Khamenei’s war.

[Maria Papaefstathiou @mpapaF]

@ZackKont 😅😅😅