Iranian authorities hanged Alireza Sepahi, 25, and Alireza Raisi, 21, at dawn on Monday, October 5, at Isfahan Central Prison, known as Dastgerd. Both were arrested after protests in Isfahan’s Alikhani Square on January 8, during the nationwide uprising, where authorities say four members of the security forces were killed.

The judiciary’s Mizan news agency confirmed the executions. It said the two had been convicted of charges including membership in an armed rebel group, moharebeh (“waging war against God”), and “corruption on earth,” and that the Supreme Court had upheld their sentences.

Their deaths bring to seven the number of defendants executed in the “Alikhani Square” case. Erfan Esfandiari and Gol-Mohammad Mohammadi were hanged on July 19; Sepahi’s cousin, Abolfazl Sepahi, and Amirhossein Safari were hanged publicly in the square itself on July 28; and Ghaem Hosseini was executed on August 20.

A man led to the gallows twice

Alireza Sepahi was meant to die alongside his cousin on July 28. That execution was halted after he suffered a heart attack shortly before the public hanging and was rushed to hospital. On September 2, his lawyer said the Supreme Court had accepted his appeal and referred the case for retrial. Ten days later, he was moved to the prison’s pre-execution solitary cells. On October 3, his family was summoned for what was expected to be a final visit. “My client, Alireza Sepahi, is breathing today; perhaps not tomorrow,” his lawyer, Shahrzad Shahbazi, wrote.

The day before he was hanged, Sepahi married his fiancée, Mahshad Kashani, in a telephone ceremony from prison. Raisi’s family gathered outside Dastgerd the night before, seeking news of him.

Analysis: executions as a message

The pattern in this case is not hidden. Two of the seven were hanged in public, in the same square where the protest took place. At least 32 people had already been executed in connection with the December–January protests since March 19, and at least 100 more arrested in the uprising are at risk of execution. Each hanging is a warning to anyone considering a return to the streets.

The timing is telling. The hangings took place the same day Iran’s judiciary chief, Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei, warned officials against “anything that angers the people.” The leadership is openly worried about public anger, and its answer, alongside the words of caution, is the gallows. The case has been marked by reports of torture, forced confessions and violations of due process, and other defendants remain at risk.

The executions came five days before October 10, the World Day Against the Death Penalty.

Photo: Iran HRM.