Hollywood star Angelina Jolie has expressed solidarity with dozens of Iranians who lost their eyes to police gunfire during recent antigovernment protests.

The American actress and director published pictures of Elahe Tavakolian and Zanyar Tondro, two young protesters who were shot in the eye during nationwide protests in Iran, on her Instagram page on Friday, saying “You aimed at my eyes, but my heart is still beating.”

Jolie further added in the caption that “Thinking of the young Iranians who have suffered eye injuries protesting the killing of Mahsa Amini, like Elahe Tavakolian and Zanyar Tondro. Many survivors have lost sight in one or both eyes. It’s a reminder of the price young Iranians are paying in their struggle for rights and freedoms.”

The Iranian regime used overwhelming force against protesters demanding secular democracy, killing more than 500, injuring thousands and jailing more than 20,000 mainly young protesters.

Earlier, Iranians launched a Twitter storm in support of Tondro, an 18-year-old man who along with his father, left Iran for treatment in Europe in the past weeks, but after their boat capsized, he was arrested by the Turkish police and taken to a refugee camp in the southwestern city of Mugla.

Elahe Tavakolian, a PhD student lost her eye to shotgun pellets fired at protesters by regime security forces.

Many protesters have been shot in the face and have lost one or both eyes during the protests that are still underway after more than six months.