Executions in the Shadow of War: Letters and Records Reveal the Stories of Iran's Death Row
Harrowing testimonies emerge from inside Iran's prison system, where several political prisoners have been executed in recent weeks. Among them are the letters and videos of Babak Alipour, a 34-year-old law graduate and keen hiker who spent three years on death row before being hanged in late March, The Guardian reports.
Writing from his cell in Rajai Shahr prison in Karaj, northern Iran, Alipour wanted to share the stories of those who had already been executed with his friends. Thus he wrote of 69-year-old Behrouz Ehsani, describing him as the oldest of them but who was “never angry” about their situation. About Mehdi Hassani, a 48-year-old father, he said that he had met him a few times in the prison hospital and that he asked him to tell his children that he was “fine”.
Despite the executions around him, Alipour noted, in neat handwriting, that he did not feel intimidated. On March 12, he even made a short video with a phone smuggled into the prison, in which he openly criticized the regime's leadership: “Dictators came, were overthrown, died or were killed, and now it is the turn of the dictatorship of Khamenei-son”he said, referring to the rise of Mojtaba Khamenei as Iran's supreme leader
Soon after, his family was also targeted by the regime: his brother, sister and mother were arrested while returning from a vigil outside the prison.
Less than two weeks later, on March 31, Alipour was transferred to Ghezel Hesar Prison and executed by hanging, along with his cellmate Pouya Ghobadi, a 32-year-old electrical engineer. Both were charged with membership of an opposition organization and involvement in an armed rebellion.
Alipour's father, a farmer whose clothing business was destroyed by Iran's stagnant economy, has so far been unable to recover his son's body. According to sources close to the family, Alipour's brother has not been heard from for a month.
Babak Alipour in his cell
Iranian fighter, executed by hanging by the Tehran regime. How the charges were laid against him
In the past month, at least 16 men – including eight political prisoners and eight protesters – have been executed in Iran. Among the victims are Amirhossein Hatami, aged just 18, accused of “enmity towards God” and “corruption on earth”, as well as Amirali Mirjafari, a 24-year-old student.
Mirjafari, a student and IT technician, was killed on Tuesday for his alleged involvement in the protests. According to human rights activists, 11 other political prisoners, aged between 23 and 68, are still on death row.
Reza Younesi, 45, a professor at Uppsala University in Sweden, lives in fear for the lives of his father and brother, both imprisoned in Iran.
His brother Ali, 26, an award-winning astronomy student, was arrested in Iran six years ago and his father Yousef, 73, was taken from home three years ago. Both are serving sentences for alleged MeK links.
“We are talking about a horrible and brutal regime herehe said. “We are talking about a horrific and brutal regime. During war, it becomes even more brutal. I can do almost anything to the prisoners, knowing that human rights groups and the international community can't do much, and that even if they do react, no one is paying attention.”
Yousef Younesi and his son Ali are in prison Photo: Reza Youseni
Younesi says executions are used as a tool of intimidation: “They use this punishment and executions as a tool to spread fear in society.”
Human rights organizations Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, director of Iran Human Rights (Norway), says the number of executions is unprecedented: “The purpose of these executions is to create fear among the population. Normally, the political cost of executing a protester or political prisoner is much higher. Now, however, everything is overshadowed by war.”
On Thursday, Donald Trump said he had convinced Tehran not to carry out the death penalty for eight women. Iranian authorities have denied the White House's claim that the women were to be executed. The US president has so far made no public comments about the men who were hanged.
In a final video message secretly filmed before his execution, Babak Alipour, who dreamed of a secular and democratic Iran, warned of intensifying repression under the guise of war: “Amid crises engulfing his entire government, Khamenei wants to demonstrate his brutality by increasing the number of executions to create fear and terror in Iran's seething society, to save himself from collapse. But he miscalculated.”he said. “Undoubtedly, the day of freedom and happiness for the heroic people will soon come.”
