Iran executes protester just hours after he married bride in prison wedding over the phone

An Iranian couple jailed for protesting against the regime married in a prison ceremony over the phone — and then were cruelly separately forever when the groom was hanged by the regime just hours later, before they ever got to see each other as husband and wife.

Alireza Sepahi, 25, and Mahshad Keshani, 22, were among the thousands arrested during the anti-regime protests earlier this year, with Keshani pushing for an informal wedding before Sepahi could be killed by Islamist government.

Sepahi, who avoided his execution over the summer after he suffered a heart attack on his way to the gallows, agreed. The two lovers were joined by their fathers over the phone inside the Isfahan prison, the Sunday Times reported.

Amirsalar Davoudi, a rights lawyer in Tehran, helped officiate the wedding on Monday as he read the couple’s vows for their fathers to bless, with Keshani’s family only able to offer a copy of the Quran, a saffron rock candy and single red rose as dowry.

“It was Mahshad’s idea,” Davoudi told the Times. “Even now, I wonder how one young woman can possess such courage.

“I do not know how to come to terms with this,” he added.

“The regime is taking revenge on innocent young people for the humiliation it has suffered internationally.”

Hours after the wedding, Sepahi was hanged at Isfahan’s Shahid Alikhani Square, the site of one of the largest protests against the Islamic republic in January.

It’s been a common execution spot for the regime’s public hangings — an effort to send a message to the people.

View this post on Instagram Sepahi’s cousin, Abolfazl Sepahi Badjani, was among the men hanged at the square, which has sparked backlash and protests against the regime.

There were 12 men involved in the Alikhani Square case accused of killing four security guards during the protest, with human rights groups saying that the defendants were forced to give false confessions under torture.

Sepahi’s hanging, along with fellow prisoner Alireza Raisi, means only five of the 12 accused are still alive.

The groom was last at the site in July for his execution, but he suffered a heart attack and fell into a coma before the state could hang him.

Sepahi eventually regained consciousness and was allowed one final family visit on Sunday, a sign that his death was imminent.

That is what sparked Keshani’s insistence that Davoudi help marry them before it’s too late, according to The Times.

“I told her, ‘My dear, you understand that this cannot simply be undone?’” Davoudi told her. “She said, ‘Mr Davoudi, I love Alireza.’”

When Davoudi passed on the plan to Sepahi, the young man couldn’t believe what he was hearing and eventually broke down in the prison.

“Alireza was crying, and something deeply painful and beautiful happened. Even the prison officers began to cry,” Davoudi recalled.

Sepahi’s family were given one last insult after they were prevented from burying their son in his home town, Iran International reported.