Tehran - Hundred days into the longest running anti-government protests in Iran since the 1979 has claimed the lives of more than 500 protesters, including 69 children, according to the Human Rights Activists' News Agency (HRANA). Two protesters have been executed and at least 26 others face the same fate, after what Amnesty International calls "sham trials".
Although nationwide demonstrations have swept Iran before in 2017 and 2019, the current protests are unique, as they involve people from across society and women are taking a lead role under the slogan "Woman, Life, Freedom".
Some Iranian celebrities have supported protests costing them exile or arrest.
Taraneh Alidoosti, a well-known Iranian actress, is being held in the notorious Evin prison after she condemned the execution of a young protester.
Another prominent Iranian actress who has left the country, Pegah Ahangarani, told BBC Persian: "Both sides have been radicalised, the regime in its crackdown and people in film industry in their response.
"Iran cannot go back to pre-Mahsa Amini era," referring to the Kurdish Iranian woman whose death in the custody of Iran's morality police on 16 September sparked the protests.
Hamid Farrokhnezhad, another well-known Iranian actor, moved to the US earlier this month and immediately called Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei a "dictator", comparing him to Franco, Stalin and Mussolini.
Ali Karimi, one of Iran's most celebrated former footballers, said Iranian intelligence agents threatened to kill him, eventually leading him to move to the US for supporting the protests.
Another Iranian football icon, Ali Daei, had his jewellery shop and restaurant shut down by the Iranian judiciary after coming out in support of a nationwide strike.
Iran's Generation Z has been at the forefront of these protests, defying strict religious rule and setting new trends such as burning headscarves.
Iranian authorities have not only cracked down on protesters, but have also used the bodies of those who have died in custody or been killed as bargaining chips to silence the families of victims.
BBC Persian has also obtained X-ray images that show three ribs of an imprisoned radiologist were broken, piercing his lung. Dr Hamid Ghare-Hasanlou was found guilty of "corruption on Earth", a crime which carries death penalty.
An informed source told Amnesty International that Dr Ghare-Hasanlou was subjected to torture and ill-treatment in order to extract a forced "confession".
-BBC