itv NEWS – Professor Sharifi-Zarchi is one of Iran’s most high-profile academics, teaching bioinformatics and artificial intelligence at Tehran’s prestigious Sharif University of Technology, often dubbed Iran’s answer to MIT.
For the past two weeks, he has been living in exile, knowing that if he returns to Iran, he faces almost certain arrest.
With more than 150,000 followers on X, the professor says he will remain abroad, not out of fear of imprisonment, but out of a sense of duty to give voice to Iranians living under a continuing internet blackout.
“I didn’t want to be only a hashtag—‘Free Ali,’” he tells ITV News from an undisclosed location. “I decided to be okay, be here and be a voice of a nation that is under blackout”
He is facing arrest because of his outspoken criticism of the regime’s brutal crackdown on anti-government protesters.
Protests erupted across 71 cities in Iran in late December. Although they initially centred on currency devaluation and economic hardship, they quickly evolved into calls for regime change and broader demands for democracy.
The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) says it has verified 4,902 deaths since the unrest began and is reviewing a further 9,387 suspected fatalities.
Professor Sharifi-Zarchi was in Iran at the start of the protests and says they began peacefully. However, tensions escalated after he left the country to attend a training camp for gold medallists of the International Olympiad in Informatics in China.
While there, he learned of the violent crackdown unfolding at home and felt compelled to speak out. He posted on X: “Ali Khamenei is not my leader,” referring to Iran’s Supreme Leader, the 86-year-old cleric who has ruled since 1989.
“Those tweets had really big consequences,” he says. “I knew I was putting my hand into the fire.”
He adds, “Almost immediately, high-ranking security officials began publicly threatening me,” noting, “That’s when I realised I couldn’t return home.”
Soon afterwards, he received a message from Iran’s court system confirming his fears that he would be arrested.
He says he could face “several years in prison” or, depending on the judge, an even harsher sentence.
This is not the first time he has fallen foul of the authorities. During the 2022 protests following the death of Mahsa Amini, he was summoned by the intelligence agency of Iran, questioned, and suspended from his teaching post after publicly supporting student demonstrators.
“They had a thick book with every single one of my tweets,” he recalls. “Some were highlighted in green, some in pink. They asked me, ‘What is the purpose of this? What is the purpose of that?’ And I answered all of those.”
This time, he says, the repression has been even more severe, with deep personal consequences.
Among those killed in the protests was his close friend, Parsa Saffar, a medical student at Mashhad University of Medical Sciences. He was shot dead during demonstrations in Mashhad.
“He was a brave student, a brilliant student,” Sharifi-Zarchi says. He recalls the last time they met, when Saffar welcomed him warmly at the airport at the start of a visit to Mashad.
“That’s the last image I have of him. I really hope he rests in peace.”
The violence, he says, has had a devastating impact on Iran’s youth.
“Some teenagers say, ‘I’m ashamed that I’m alive,’” he explains.
“Do you know what that means for a teenager? They have seen a lot of blood in front of them. Their dearest people, friends, family members being killed, being murdered.”
His message to the international community is that Iranians are still waiting for meaningful support.
“The majority of my friends who have been able to connect from Iran are really waiting for international action,” he says.
“Trump promised that he would go after the government. And for his promise, there were many other additional people going into the streets. People are really awaiting some sort of action, some sort of penalty”
“I’m asking the international community what kind of crime against humanity you are waiting to happen, until you take action against this brutal regime.
“This is my question. What level of aggression against unarmed people are you awaiting? What is your red line?”
He also warns that communication inside Iran remains heavily restricted.
He tells ITV News that messaging platforms are still under government control, adding “people are really waiting for more of a relaxed situation with the internet, so that people could use other communication media like Telegram, WhatsApp…in order to provide more information.“
Despite the risks he faces, Sharifi-Zarchi says his greatest hope is simply to return to teaching and to a normal life. He longs to go back to his classroom and see his students free from fear and economic pressure.
“My greatest wish is that I go to my classroom in university and teach AI and bioinformatics, and my students come to the class and they are happy.
“They are not stressed because of the daily increase of the price of the US dollar, daily decrease of the value of Iranian real, daily hardened situation…the people of Iran are really looking for a normal daily life, nothing more.”