Over the past two months, large-scale antigovernment protests in Iran have been met with violent state repression. The confirmed death toll has risen to more than 6,800 as of early February—among them artists and cultural workers—according to the Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), though the actual figure is likely far higher.

On January 13, the Artists at Risk Connection (ARC), an independent international organization that supports artists under threat, reported that sculptor Mehdi Salahshour, filmmaker Javad Ganji, fashion design student Rubina Aminian, and hip-hop artist Soroush Soleimani were shot dead, while the Hengaw Organization for Human Rights confirmed the killing of graphic designer Ahmad Abbasi.