Afshin Bagherpour is one of the organizers of weekly demonstrations in Oslo by members of the Iranian diaspora protesting against the Islamic Republic.
The protests are part of a broader global mobilization by Iranian communities abroad that began after a nationwide uprising erupted inside Iran at the end of December 2025. Demonstrations spread to more than a hundred cities and quickly became the most serious challenge to the Islamic Republic since the 1979 Iranian Revolution that brought Ayatollah Khomeini to power—a revolution initially supported by Iranian leftists who were soon arrested or massacred by the new theocratic regime.
On 8 January 2026, confronted with millions of protesters—from Iran’s largest cities to small, dust-filled villages—the regime responded with a massive crackdown. Security forces and paramilitary units opened fire on demonstrators, and thousands were reportedly killed within days, with some estimates reaching into the tens of thousands. The repression forced the protests off the streets, with activists facing summary execution if caught by the regime’s militias.
On 28 February, the United States and Israel launched military strikes against Iranian targets, and the fall of the widely despised regime is now seen as a realistic possibility. Yet, for Bagherpour and many in the diaspora, Western mainstream media have failed to sustain attention on the scale of the crackdown in Iran, while Iranian voices critical of the regime often struggle to gain a platform in public debate.
The demonstrations in Oslo therefore serve two purposes: to show solidarity with those who protested inside Iran and to remind Western governments, media, and the public that the struggle against the Islamic Republic did not end when the protests were violently suppressed. If and when the Iranian people regain their freedom from the rule of the mullahs, the full extent of the horrors of theocracy—and the complicity of Western governments and media—will become clear. The winds of change from a liberated Iran may yet bring fresh air to the echo chambers of European newsrooms and political corridors.