A 21-year-old Iranian protester shared a final, heartbreaking call with his father who could do nothing but sob as the regime carried him off to the gallows moments later.
Alireza Raisi’s last call with his father from inside an Isfahan prison revealed the family’s desperation moments before he was hung to death for taking part in the January protests against the regime, according to a recording of the conversation.
“Forgive me! Forgive me,” Raisi’s father could be heard saying through tears. “There is nothing I can do for you.”
Alireza Raisi, a protester in Isfahan’s Alikhani Square case, was executed last week after a tearful phone call with his father. Iran Human Rights
“Dad, I’m proud of you in every way,” Raisi responded. “I am always proud of you.”
“I’m proud of you, too,” the sobbing father said, according to the audio.
Despite the situation he found himself in, Raisi told his father he would do anything to take away his pain of losing a son.
The protester also promised that he would look after his cousin, Ramin Raisi, who was killed during the Jan. 9 protest in Isfahan’s Baharestand neighborhood, Iran International reported.
“Don’t cry, dad,” Raisi said. “Give my regards to uncle as well. Tell him I’m keeping an eye on Ramin.”
Iran has steadily handed out death sentences and executions for those who took part in January’s anti-regime protests. Getty Images
Raisi was hanged last week along with Alireza Sepahi, 25, another protester who got married in prison over the phone hours before the execution.
The two men were among the dozen accused of killing four members of Iran’s security force during a protest at Isfahan’s Shahid Alikhani Square, where the regime has been holding public executions.
The protesters were found guilty in what human rights groups slammed as sham trials, where the men allegedly suffered severe torture to secure confessions for the court.
The most chaotic protests broke out on Jan. 8 and 9, with Iran’s security forces responding with deadly violence that killed thousands. Getty Images
Raisi and Sepahi’s family suffered further distress after they were allegedly kept from burying their loved ones in their hometowns, according to Iran International.
Prominent Iranian journalist Masih Alinejad slammed the entire process as a violation of human rights and called for Iran to end its killing of political prisoners.
“This is what the Islamic Republic calls justice: 18 days of torture. Electric shocks. A forced confession. A trial lasting minutes. An appeal thrown out in less than 48 hours. A gallows built beside a Revolutionary Guard executioner,” she wrote on X.
“They think the rope will end the uprising. The rope is only creating more anger towards society,” Alinejad added.