Iran Executes Protester Hours After Phone Wedding in Prison
Alireza Sepahi, a 25-year-old anti-government protester, was hanged at Isfahan Central Prison on Oct. 5, shortly after marrying his fiancée Mahshad Keshani via a telephone ceremony.
Iranian authorities carried out a hanging at dawn on Oct. 5 at Isfahan Central Prison, executing 25-year-old protester Alireza Sepahi. The execution occurred a few hours after Sepahi and his fiancée, 22-year-old student activist Mahshad Keshani, exchanged vows over a prison telephone line, a ceremony facilitated by human-rights lawyer Amirsalar Davoudi.
Sepahi and Keshani had been detained during anti-government demonstrations in Isfahan’s Alikhani Square on Jan. 8. Both were sentenced to death, and Sepahi was executed alongside co-defendant Alireza Raisi. Keshani, serving a five-year sentence, arranged the informal wedding amid concerns that Sepahi’s execution was imminent.
Davoudi read the vows for the fathers, and the couple’s families provided a copy of the Quran, saffron rock candy and a single red rose as a traditional dowry. The ceremony did not affect the scheduled execution, and Sepahi was hanged on Monday morning.
Human-rights groups note that Keshani remains in custody on additional security charges. The case is part of a broader series of executions linked to the Alikhani Square protests, in which seven defendants have been executed. International figures, including Maryam Rajavi of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, have called on the United Nations to intervene against the executions.