Executions and Family Struggles in Iran

My colleague, Farnesh Faraji, is here in the studio with us. Welcome, Farnesh.

After the executions of Alireza Raeisi and Alireza Sepahi, what

happened to their bodies? What did their families go through?

Um, the information received by Iran International after the

uh, execution of, uh, Alireza Sepahi

on the evening of October fifth, because, uh,

his mother, Ms. Somayeh, is also, uh, in prison and has been sentenced to five

years in prison, uh, she is not outside.

They only allowed a few members of his

immediate family to attend his funeral.

باشه. جمهوری اسلامی بعد از اعتراضات چهارصد و

did this, after the executions

of, uh, these loved ones, it did not allow them to be buried in their

own cities. Alireza Sepahi has now been buried in Kashan,

uh, and the family has to go there

for the funeral. They did the same thing before with Erfan

Esfandiyari. From Isfahan to the place where in

His grave is a four-hour drive away.

They have to go. They buried Abolfazl Sepahi in the desert.

The family, whenever they want to visit his grave, has to

travel this entire route to get there.

They have done the same thing with every single person connected to this case, Meydan

Alikhani, whom they executed, up to now.

They did not even allow Alireza's family to put up a banner

and mourn for him. They threatened them.

They are under security pressure, but they only managed to

hang one banner with his picture on a wall in Isfahan so they could

mourn for him.

The Islamic Republic not only takes the lives of these beloved people,

it is also afraid of their mourning and burial.

When the massacre took place in Iran during the 1404 protests,

it did the same thing.

It would not hand over the bodies. It even buried them at night.

It even said that the bodies had to be taken to another city.

Take him away and bury him. Uh, it wants to inflict that suffering and pressure

on the families, uh, and it wants to, uh,

create fear in them. But still, you see that despite all this

pressure, the families are seeking justice for the lives of their loved ones.

هستند. ما امروز خبر دیگری هم اِمم، داشتیم از

all these, uh, protests and executions, which

concerns Hadi Abbasian, 38 years old, a resident of, uh,

Shi— uh,

The Bojnord court, uh, issued his death sentence

to him yesterday, the thirteenth of Mehr, uh, and

he, too, is on death row. They say the Islamic Republic has restarted its execution machine

دوباره جمهوری اسلامی روشن کرده و

and put it back into operation. In recent days, we even had Raeisi, too,

um, and they likewise did not allow anyone to attend his burial,

and said it should only be his immediate family.

Farensh, regarding Alireza Sepahi, the crime had

extensive dimensions in this young man’s case.

Uh, what do we know about his torture?

Uh, we had previously, uh, published reports as well.

Reports that had reached Iran International about how

he was tortured and forced to make a confession.

It was at the moment of his arrest, when he was in his room at home.

They raid their home and smash all of his two sisters' trousseaus.

They arrest his mother. They arrest his siblings.

They shoot him four times in the leg and take him away.

They take him to Ward Alef in prison.

Until they wanted to get a confession from him and, uh, before

his execution, they had taken him there. Uh, the beatings

they gave him bruised his face and broke his teeth.

They had pulled out his nails. Even once before, when they had taken him

with Abolfazl for execution, he suffers a stroke.

One of his hands becomes paralyzed. They take him to Al-Zahra Hospital, but

when they take him back to Ward Alef, they return him.

They continue the torture in front of his mother

They give it, and then yesterday, unfortunately, they executed him.

Thank you very much for being here. Farshid Faraji is here in the studio

with us.