🔶 Aliakhani case in Isfahan; 12 young lives under the gallows in the shadow of war

🔶 Aliakhani case in Isfahan; 12 young lives under the gallows in the shadow of war

🔻 Report by Mitra Shajaei

On 18 Dey 1404, during nationwide protests in Aliakhani Square in Isfahan, a severe clash occurred between protesters and government forces. No independent, verifiable account of these clashes was published, but government officials announced that, during these clashes, four members of the Basij and FARAJA (Law Enforcement Command of the Islamic Republic of Iran) forces were killed.

Following this incident, a judicial case was quickly opened, and 59 citizens of Isfahan were arrested.

The case was assigned to Branch One of the Revolutionary Court in Isfahan, presided over by Mohammad Borati Dercheh and Mohammad Tokli. The same branch that, during the Woman, Life, Freedom movement, issued the death sentences for defendants in the so-called “House of Isfahan” case with speed and carried out the death sentences of Majid Kazzami, Salih Mirhashemi, and Saeid Yaqoubi.

The trial of this case, with 59 defendants, while Iran was 40 days into the war and the court branches were half-holiday or closed, was issued in Tir of that year and immediately confirmed by the Supreme Court: 12 of the detainees were sentenced to death, and some of them—more than once: Alireza Sepahi (born 1380) to four death sentences, Abolfazl Sepahi (born 1382) to three death sentences, Alireza Reisi (born 1383), Qaem Hosseini (born 1384), and Gol Mohammad Mohammadi (born 1381) and a citizen of Afghanistan who had sheltered protesters—each to two death sentences.

Among these individuals, Alireza Reisi had lost his mother’s cousin during the same protests in Dey. Ramin Reisi was killed in Isfahan by government forces on 19 Dey. One day after his burial, Alireza Reisi was arrested by security forces.

On 18 Tir, the Supreme Court confirmed the sentences of the defendants in the Aliakhani Square case exactly as issued, and now the case has moved to the execution stage so that 12 young lives can be taken in haste, without having gone through an independent judicial process.