Iranian Man’s Last Wish Before Execution

A video emerged today showing Rahnavard expressing what is probably his last wish.

A 23-year-old man executed in Iran for his involvement in anti-government protests left a directive before his death that no one should mourn him or read the Quran at his grave. Majidreza Rahnavard was hanged in public on Monday in the city of Mashhad.

Rahnavard’s execution comes four days after Mohsen Shekari, also 23, was executed for wounding a member of the security forces. This is the first case of the death penalty being used against a protester, despite international outcry.

A video emerged today showing Rahnavard expressing what is probably his last wish. In it, Rahnavard, blindfolded and surrounded by two masked guards, is seen talking to the camera.

“I don’t want anyone to mourn on my grave. I don’t want them to read the Quran or pray. Just celebrate and play celebratory music,” the supers translation reads. NDTV was unable to verify the authenticity of the video.

Darya Safai, Belgian Member of Parliament and women’s rights activist, tweeted:

Just before he was hanged by the Iranian regime on December 12, they questioned him #MajidrezaRahnavard

His Last Words: I don’t want people to read or pray the Quran over my grave, just celebrate

Sharia law is the reason he left
His Judgment: War with Allah

Just because he proved his right pic.twitter.com/1uQpYhpGIq

– Congressman Darya Safai (@SafaiDarya) December 15, 2022

The judiciary’s Mizan Online news agency reported that Rahnavard had been sentenced to death by a court for stabbing two members of the security forces to death and wounding four others.

The director of the Oslo-based Iran Human Rights group, Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, said Rahnavard was “sentenced to death based on forced confessions following a… demonstration trial”, AFP news agency news.

“The public execution of a young protester, 23 days after his arrest, is another serious crime committed by the leaders of the Islamic republic,” he told AFP.

The 1500tasvir social media channel, which monitors the protest, said his family was only informed of the execution after it was carried out, AFPt reported. It released photos of the last meeting between the convicted man and his mother, saying she had left without knowing he was dying.

They allow #MajidRezaRahnavardHis mother visited him, and said nothing about the execution. She left with a smile and hoped that her son would be released soon.
She arrived this morning when her son’s killers were burying his body alone.#StopExecutionInIranpic.twitter.com/9n2k02uE60

— 1500tasvir_en (@1500tasvir_en) December 12, 2022

Anti-government protests have rocked the regime for months. Iran called the protests “riots” and said they were encouraged by foreign enemies.

The protests began four months ago after the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, an Iranian-Kurdish who was arrested by ethics police for allegedly violating the Islamic republic’s strict dress code for with women.

The protests are the biggest challenge to the regime since the Shah was ousted in 1979 and have been met with a crackdown that activists say is aimed at instilling fear among the population.

State Department spokesman Ned Price said it “emphasized how much the Iranian leadership really fears its people”.