Executions in the Shadow of War: Letters and Recordings Reveal the Stories of Iran's Death Row Inmates

Chilling accounts are surfacing from within the Iranian penitentiary system, revealing the recent executions of political prisoners. These testimonies include the poignant letters and video recordings of Babak Alipour, a 34-year-old law graduate and hiking enthusiast who spent three years on death row before his execution by hanging in late March, as reported by The Guardian. His writings, penned from his cell in Rajai Shahr prison, aimed to share the stories of those already executed with his friends.

Alipour documented the experiences of fellow inmates, such as Behrouz Ehsani, 69, described as the oldest among them, who maintained a remarkable lack of anger despite their dire situation. He also wrote about Mehdi Hassani, a 48-year-old father, whom he met several times in the prison hospital, and who asked Alipour to convey to his children that he was "doing well." Despite the grim reality of executions surrounding him, Alipour's neat handwriting conveyed a sense of defiance, not intimidation.

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Dictators have come, they were overthrown, they died or were killed, and now it is the turn of Khamenei-son's dictatorship.

On March 12, Alipour even managed to record a short video using a smuggled phone, directly criticizing the regime's leadership. "Dictators have come, they were overthrown, they died or were killed, and now it is the turn of Khamenei-son's dictatorship," he stated, referencing the potential succession of Mojtaba Khamenei as Iran's supreme leader. Tragically, his family soon became targets of the regime; his brother, sister, and mother were arrested while returning from a vigil held outside the prison. Less than two weeks later, on March 31, Alipour was transferred to Ghezel Hesar prison and executed by hanging alongside his cellmate, Pouya Ghobadi, a 32-year-old electrical engineer.

Both Alipour and Ghobadi were accused of belonging to an opposition organization and involvement in armed rebellion. Alipour's father, a farmer whose clothing business was ruined by Iran's stagnant economy, has been unable to recover his son's body. Sources close to the family report that Alipour's brother has been missing for a month. In the past month alone, at least 16 men, including eight political detainees and eight protesters, have been executed in Iran. Among the victims were 18-year-old Amirhossein Hatami, accused of "enmity against God" and "corruption on earth," and 24-year-old student and IT technician Amirali Mirjafari, killed for alleged involvement in protests. Human rights activists report that another 11 political detainees, aged 23 to 68, remain on death row. Reza Younesi, a 45-year-old professor at Uppsala University in Sweden, is also mentioned.

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he was 'doing well'.