"If This Is Not a Massacre, Then What Is It?" Iranian Model Active in South Korea Appeals in Korean

According to Financial News, Hoda Kigu, an Iranian-born model and YouTuber active in South Korea, has issued an appeal in Korean, describing the horrors of the anti-government protests in Iran and calling for the attention of the international community.
On the 10th, Hoda Niku posted a video titled "For the Freedom of Iran" on her YouTube channel and social media.
“I turned on the camera because I wanted to deliver an important message,” she began.
She went on, “People in Iran have held countless protests for a long time in pursuit of freedom and democracy. But in the process, the government has repeatedly used heavy-handed physical force to control the people, and there have been many heartbreaking casualties.”
Hoda Niku said, “Right now, the people of Iran are once again mustering great courage to try to bring about change, but to stop them the government has cut off the internet and even blocked basic phone calls,” adding, “As someone who loves both Iran and South Korea, I am leaving this video in the hope that the voices of the Iranian people will be heard even a little more widely.” She appealed, “If you could pay just a bit more attention to news about Iran and support the courage of the Iranian people, that alone would be a tremendous source of strength for us.”
Later, through her Instagram account, Hoda Niku wrote, “With the internet completely shut down in Iran, more than several thousand people have lost their lives,” and criticized, “If this is not a massacre, then what are we supposed to call it?”
She also shared videos via Instagram Stories showing Iranian citizens taking part in anti-government protests.
Alongside the footage, Hoda Niku wrote, “More than 10,000 people have been killed, yet the people of Iran still have not given up hope for freedom and continue to fight,” adding, “This video shows one of the bravest scenes in modern history.”
Hoda Niku, who placed third in the 2018 Miss Iran pageant, appeared on KBS 1TV’s “My Neighbor, Charles” in 2020, where she shared the story of how she came to South Korea. She said that although she grew up in a wealthy family in Iran, she came to South Korea in defiance of a reality in which, simply because she was a woman, she was forced to wear a hijab and subjected to various restrictions. Now pursuing an acting career while working as a model in South Korea, Hoda Niku currently has around 520,000 followers on Instagram.
The anti-government protests in Iran, triggered by an economic crisis caused by murderous price increases, have intensified and turned into a bloody situation. The authorities have cut off internet access and launched a harsh crackdown, further escalating the unrest.
According to The Associated Press (AP) on the 13th (local time), the Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), a U.S.-based human rights group, estimated that about 2,000 people had been killed as the protests continued for 17 days. Of these, 1,847 were protesters, while 135 were members of the military, police, and other government forces.
Iran Human Rights (IHR), a Norway-based Iranian human rights organization, has counted 648 protesters killed and thousands injured. Based on unverified information obtained by IHR, there are even suggestions that the death toll could reach as high as 6,000.
newssu@fnnews.com Kim Su-yeon Reporter