Iranian Woman Detained for Burning Khamenei Photo Outside Country

Iran’s Protests Continue as Viral Defiance Video Creates Confusion

For more than two weeks, thousands of Iranians have taken to the streets protesting against the governing regime, facing violent crackdowns from security forces. According to the U.S.-based human rights organization HRANA, more than 2,670 people have been killed so far, including over 160 pro-government individuals. The organization believes the actual death toll is likely even higher.

Meanwhile, social media users worldwide are expressing solidarity with Iranian protesters. One powerful symbol has emerged: images and videos of young women lighting cigarettes from burning photos of Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. One particular video has gone viral but is frequently shared with misleading context.

The widely circulated clip shows a woman igniting her cigarette from a burning portrait of Khamenei. Accompanying captions often claim it was recorded “in the middle of a Tehran winter” and that the woman had violated several Iranian laws. The video has amassed more than 920,000 views on Instagram and has been shared across multiple languages including Spanish and Turkish.

However, a fact-check investigation reveals the video was not filmed in Iran at all. The woman in the clip posts on X under the pseudonym “Morticia Addams” and lives in Toronto, Canada. She stated in one of her posts that the video was filmed on January 7.

Geolocation confirms the setting is Richmond Hill, just north of Toronto. The Oak Ridges Library is clearly visible in the background, as also reported by Reuters and other media outlets.

In an interview with Spanish online magazine “The Objective,” the woman explained she is an Iranian exile living in Canada who uses a pseudonym for safety reasons while trying to draw attention to the protests in her homeland. Her family still lives in Iran. Importantly, she never claimed her video was filmed inside the country but was inspired by similar acts of defiance from women in Iran.

The clip has garnered significant attention partly because the actions depicted would carry severe consequences if performed within Iran’s borders. According to Human Rights Watch and other NGOs, the Iranian government systematically suppresses women’s rights. A woman appearing unveiled in public, as shown in the video, would risk immediate arrest.

The death of Mahsa Amini in September 2022, following her detention for allegedly wearing her hijab incorrectly, ignited the mass protests that continue to rock the country.

Under Iran’s Sharia-based laws, women face numerous restrictions. DW Farsi editor Niloofar Gholami explains that while there’s no formal legal ban against women smoking in public, it remains a social taboo that could lead to warnings from the morality police or even imprisonment.

“In recent years, this long-standing taboo has significantly weakened, reflecting broader changes in social attitudes,” notes Gholami.

However, burning a photo of Khamenei is an “extremely dangerous act” inside Iran. Such actions are categorized as “muharaba” – loosely translated as “war against God” – and can result in extraordinarily long prison sentences. According to Euronews and other media outlets, a man who posted a video of himself burning Khamenei’s photo in November 2023 was found dead in his car hours later with a gunshot wound to the head.

The symbolic act of women lighting cigarettes with burning photos of the Supreme Leader represents defiance against the regime and a call for freedom. However, most videos circulating online originate from women living in exile, who face substantially fewer risks than those inside Iran.

Experts point out that information from inside Iran has been heavily filtered by the government for years. Since January 8, the country has experienced a near-total phone shutdown and widespread internet blackout, making it extremely difficult to verify images and videos emerging from Iran. This communication vacuum creates fertile ground for misinformation and highlights the challenges in accurately documenting the ongoing struggle for human rights within the country.