Saeed Masouri, enduring as Iran’s longest-held prisoner of conscience, marks a poignant milestone: the start of his 24th year of incarceration. From the depths of confinement, he shares a message that resonates with profound strength, courage, and inspiration.

O beloved, today we embody both your spirit and the love we share!

Behind towering walls, encased in barbed wire, confined to a narrow cell with only a small aperture for a window, I embark on the twenty-fourth year of my imprisonment. Like a modern-day bearer of a heavy cross, I’ve carried the weight of these thick walls and unforgiving bars for a quarter of a century.

However, the twenty-third year stood out as a year of bloodshed, perhaps the bloodiest in these 23 years. I can still feel the warm breath and whispered camaraderie of beloved political prisoners like Mohsen Shekari, Mohammad Mehdi Karami, Seyyed Hossein Hosseini, Khodanur Lejehai, Milad Zohrevand, Qassem Abeste, Ayub Karimi, and Davood Abdollahi (Asu). They were all led to the slaughter in Qezelhesar. Their screams echo, as if reverberating from behind the adjacent walls, joined by countless others awaiting the same fate: Khosro Besharat, Anwar Khezri, Farhad Salimi, Kamran Sheikheh, Mojahed Kourkouri, and Reza Resaei.

The serpents on the shoulders of this Zahhak (Khamenei) are insatiable for the blood and brains of our youth. His deity sanctions crime and killing, not kindness and mercy. The orders for these atrocities come from a dark place. Prison itself becomes the graveyard of humanity. Every day, butchers lead someone from our midst to solitary confinement, bound for execution. Their final gaze locked onto us, helpless witnesses.

I feel as though I am hanged and executed with each of them, moment by agonizing moment. But how much longer… and to what extent…? Certainly, until we reclaim the freedoms stolen from our people, drop by drop. A steep price, paid every moment, and one we will continue to pay, perhaps the fate of freedom lovers in Iran. Yet, they cannot intimidate us into submission, not in this sea of blood. Fueled by an unwavering love, we will swim through this crimson tide to the shores of freedom, justice, and equality.

To all the free spirits and those who cherish Iran, I say:
“O lovers, O lovers, today we are one with you,
Drenched in a sea that’s both cruel and true.
Fear cannot sway us from this bloody tide;
For in the vastness of love’s grandeur, we’ll find our stride.
Amidst this crimson sea, towards freedom, justice, and equality, we will tirelessly swim.”

Political prisoner Saeed Masouri