Suicide investigation opened after Iranian found dead in French river

French authorities were on Tuesday investigating as suicide the drowning of an Iranian man in the southeastern city of Lyon who had said on social media he was going to kill himself to draw attention to the protest crackdown in Iran.

Mohammad Moradi, 38, was found in the Rhone river that flows through the centre of Lyon late on Monday, a police source, who asked not to be named, told Agence France-Presse.

Emergency services intervened but were unable to resuscitate him on the riverbank, the source added.

Moradi had posted a video on Instagram saying he was about to drown himself to highlight the crackdown on protesters in Iran since the death in custody of Mahsa Amini, 22, after her arrest in Tehran for an alleged breach of the country’s strict dress code for women.

“When you see this video, I will be dead,” Moradi said.

“The police are attacking people, we have lost a lot of sons and daughters, we have to do something,” Moradi said in the video.