Iran executes anti-regime protester hours after prison phone wedding

Key Points:

• Alireza Sepahi, a 25-year-old Iranian anti-regime protester, was executed on October 5 in Isfahan Central Prison, hours after marrying his imprisoned fiancée, Mahshad Keshani, over a jail phone line.
• Sepahi and Keshani, both activists arrested during anti-government demonstrations, exchanged vows in an informal prison wedding facilitated by a human rights lawyer, despite warnings about the irreversible nature of the ceremony.
• Sepahi had previously survived a scheduled execution in July due to a heart attack but was ultimately hanged alongside co-defendant Alireza Raisi, part of a group accused in the deaths of security personnel during protests.
• Following the execution, Sepahi’s family was reportedly barred from burying him in his hometown, and Keshani remains imprisoned facing additional charges, highlighting ongoing repression of protesters in Iran.
• Human rights advocates and opposition leaders, including Maryam Rajavi of the NCRI, have called on the international community, particularly the U.N., to intervene and halt the executions and human rights abuses in Iran.