The brutal theocracy in control of the Iranian people kill their own citizens. We know this. It is still difficult to read about the evil that is inflicted upon Iranians by the hands of the country’s leadership.

So many Iranians are rising up in protest for human rights and freedom at this point in time. There is strong pushback from Iranian leadership who are determined to maintain power. Demonstrators are arrested and jailed, often tortured and killed. This includes women and students. A pioneering Iranian filmmaker and his wife were stabbed to death in their home Saturday. Dariush Mehrjui and his wife, Vahideh Mohammadifar, were found by their daughter, Mona, about an hour and a half after receiving a call from them, inviting her to dinner.

Mehrjui, 83, was well-respected as a founder of the Iranian New Wave. “The Cow”, his 1969 film is considered crucial to the movement’s development. His wife was a screenwriter an a costume designer. They both had knife wounds in their necks.

There are conflicting reports, according to Variety, about forced entry into their home. They lived outside of Tehran.

Iran’s official IRNA news agency quoted judiciary official Hossein Fazeli as saying that Mehrjhi and his wife, Vahideh Mohammadifar, were found dead with knife wounds in their necks by the director’s daughter, Mona Mehrjui, when she went to visit her father Saturday night at their home home in a Tehran suburb.

The IRNA report said the assailant was unknown but that authorities are investigating alleged knife threats to the victims made on social media in recent weeks.

Whether or not the murders were connected to the conflict in Israel is unclear. Iran funds Hamas. Mohammadifar posted on her Instagram account claims that she had been contacted by someone without an Iranian accent who threatened her with a knife. Police have identified four people who may be connected to the murders but they have not been identified to the public.

Mehrjui received many awards for his work. He presided over the jury at the Vesoul International Film Festival of Asian Cinema in France in 2005. A statement was released upon learning about Mehrjui’s death.

“We have just learned of the tragic death of Iranian film director Dariush Mehrjui and his wife, both brutally murdered by thieves,” Vesoul director Jean-Marc Thérouanne said in a statement, noting that “The Cow,” “Leila” and “Bemani” all screened at the prestigious fest.

He was born in Tehran but studied in California and lived in France.

Mehrjui was born in Tehran but lived outside of Iran at various points in his life. In the 1950s, studied at the University of California Los Angeles and he also lived in France for much of the 1980s.

At times he was critical of the Iranian government – he notably denounced censorship in 2022, saying, “Kill me, do whatever you want with me…destroy me, but I want my right.”

Mehrjui had said that he did not make films with the intention of promoting a political ideology but added that “everything is political,” according to the Guardian.

Mehrjui and his wife were accustomed to speaking out in support of freedom.

Like many prominent Iranian filmmakers, Mehrjui struggled with state censorship throughout his life and publicly bristled with the Iranian government’s hostility towards cinema. He attracted attention in 2022 for posting a video criticizing the regime’s opposition to his final film, “A Minor.” His wife Vahideh Mohammadifar had attracted attention in recent days for social media posts in which she expressed concern for their safety.

If nothing comes of the official investigation, we’ll know it was a government hit to make an example to others who speak out.