Recently, a couple from Iran who were imprisoned for protesting against the regime held a wedding ceremony over the phone while in jail. However, just a few hours after getting married, the groom, Alireza Sepahi, was executed by hanging under the Iranian regime, leaving the couple forever separated.
Alireza Sepahi, 25, was sentenced to the death penalty by hanging at Isfahan Central Prison on October 5. According to Iranian human rights organizations, Sepahi and Alireza Raeisi were executed together. They were sentenced to death for participating in anti-government protests held in Isfahan on January 8.
The Times reported that Sepahi’s bride, 22-year-old student activist Mahshad Keshani, was one of the thousands of detainees during the anti-regime protests earlier this year. The two young lovers had already known each other and fallen in love before their arrest.
Sepahi had faced a hanging sentence in July but suffered a heart attack on the way to the execution site, which spared him; however, after he regained consciousness, the authorities rescheduled the execution time. The appeal by Sepahi was rejected by the Isfahan Revolutionary Court, and his relatives were summoned for a final meeting.
Keshani, serving a five-year sentence, was concerned that Sepahi might soon be executed, so she insisted on having an informal wedding ceremony. Inside the prison, the couple exchanged vows over the phone with the presence of their respective fathers.
Human rights lawyer Amirsalar Davoudi officiated the ceremony and read the vows, with both fathers witnessing and giving blessings. In accordance with tradition, Keshani’s family prepared a Quran, saffron sugar candy, and a red rose as wedding ceremony items.
“This was Mahshad’s (Keshani) own idea,” Davoudi told The Times. “Even now, I am still astounded by how a young woman could possess such courage.”
Davoudi recalled warning Keshani at the time that once the decision was made, it could not be reversed.
“She said, ‘Mr. Davoudi, I love Alireza (Sepahi),'” Davoudi said.
When Davoudi informed Sepahi of Keshani’s marriage proposal, the young man burst into tears.
“At that moment, Alireza was crying, and there was an incredibly heartbreaking yet beautiful scene, even the prison guards couldn’t hold back their tears,” Davoudi said.
However, this touching story did not prevent the Iranian regime from carrying out the hanging of Sepahi. He was one of the seven defendants executed in the Alikhani Square case; in that case, a total of 12 men were accused of causing the deaths of four security personnel.
After Sepahi’s hanging, authorities prohibited his family from burying his body in his hometown. Davoudi condemned the actions of the Iranian authorities.
“I don’t know how to accept all of this,” Davoudi said.
UN Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in Iran, Mai Sato, stated that even after his execution, “the nightmare continues for his family” – his body was not returned to Isfahan for burial but transferred about 200 kilometers away to Kashan.
Maryam Rajavi, the President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), wrote to UN Secretary-General António Guterres urging urgent international action to stop executions and killings of protesters within Iran.
As the World Day Against the Death Penalty approaches on October 10, Rajavi called on the UN to hold accountable those responsible, conduct an independent investigation, and impose diplomatic and economic pressure on Iran to stop the execution of individuals. She emphasized that Iran’s human rights violations should be submitted to the UN Security Council and the relevant criminal cases transferred to the International Criminal Court and other judicial bodies to ensure unhindered access to prisons, victims, and witnesses by UN investigating bodies.
Rajavi also urged governments worldwide to condition maintaining economic, political, and diplomatic relations with the Iranian regime on stopping executions and the killing of protesters, as well as incorporating mandatory requirements to stop executions in any international agreements involving Iran.