Iran sentences the author of the anthem of the protests over the death of Mahsa Amini to almost four years in prison. The sentence of musician Shervin Hajipour is known on the same day that the country holds elections in which the regime fears a high abstention.

“Make our friends happy and disappoint our enemies. Please vote,” declared the supreme leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, symbolically beginning the election day by casting his vote. Only about thirty of the 15,200 candidates – 1,713 of them women – among whom Iranians can choose for the 290 seats in Parliament can be considered moderate or reformist.