A brave Iranian prisoner has called for the overthrow of the war-ravaged regime in a defiant video message from the notorious Evin prison ahead of his execution.
Mohammad Taghavi, 58, called on supporters to “make the campaign to overthrow the regime successful” shortly before his execution.
He added: “Dear friends, you stand on the threshold of history – the door of the history of this land is opening to a bright and shining future.”
The brave critic was executed on Monday morning along with 60-year-old Akbar “Shahrukh” Daneshwarkar, a fellow member of the banned opposition party, the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK).
Two political prisoners were arrested in Iran in 2024 for participating in “riots, urban actions and confrontations with security forces”.
Following his arrest, he suffered months of extreme physical and psychological torture in the notorious Ward 209 of Evin Prison – including beatings, floggings, death threats at gunpoint, and long periods of solitary confinement.
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He was sentenced to death in a hearing that lasted just a few minutes.
According to Amnesty International, Iranian authorities executed the men without giving them advance notice or their families, so that they could not say their final goodbyes.
In his video message, Taghavi said: “I am Mohammad-Ali Taghavi, 58 years old, a graduate in graphics from the Faculty of Fine Arts at the University of Tehran.
“Although almost a year has passed since my death sentence, with the passage of time—despite living under the shadow of the execution—we stand stronger than ever.
“This strength comes from the belief in the liberation of the oppressed people, from the support of the larger movement moving forward under the leadership of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran.”
“The truth is that your role as an informed, educated and professional person in carrying out the campaign to overthrow (the regime) is unique and irreplaceable.”
In another photo, he holds a placard that reads: “If the price of being alive is giving up the name of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran, then shame on such a life! Let it be yours!”
In a handwritten note smuggled out of prison last year, Daneshwarkar paid tribute to two fellow MEK prisoners, Behrouz Ehsani and Mehdi Hassani, who were hanged in July.
In a touching note, he wrote: “You are gone, and your path lies before me. My dear ones, though you are not here, I have stepped forward to fill your place.”
“My respected friends, Behrouz and Mehdi, you know very well and can rest assured that until my last breath, I am steadfast in my ‘position’.
“I am willing to sacrifice my life for the motherland and the people, a firm and steadfast traveler on the path of truth and reality, without deviating in the slightest.”
He continued: “It is an eternal honor to be your cellmate, your companion, and your comrade-in-arms. Our separation will not last long; soon I will be joined to you, and then no force will have the power to separate us.”
It emerged that two other PMOI members, lawyer Babak Alipour, 34, and electrical engineer Pouya Ghobadi, 33, who were sentenced to death in the same case, were hanged on Tuesday morning.
Two other people also charged in the same case – Abolhassan Montazer and Wahid Bani Amerian – now face imminent threat of execution.
Iran has the worst human rights record in the world – responsible for three-quarters of the world’s executions.
Last year’s figures showed that the regime was executing its own people every two hours.
Insiders say the paranoid regime is increasing executions to demonstrate its power to put down any internal rebellion as they fight the US and Israel.
This came as the US and Israel launched “Operation Epic Fury”, a massive military operation targeting Iranian nuclear, military and leadership sites, killing Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
More than 3,000 US troops have now moved into the Middle East after US President Donald Trump suggested sending troops to Iran if talks fail.
About 10,000 American troops are being deployedwhich includes elite naval and Paratroopers of the 83rd Airborne – Armies trained to seize and hold territory.
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Maryam Rajavi, chairwoman-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), said, “The brutal execution of these proud PMOI members reflects the fear and desperation of the mullahs’ regime in front of an angry public”.
He said that “the criminal executions, in the midst of a foreign war, are a clear admission by the ruling mullahs that the regime’s main enemy is the Iranian people and the resistance”.
Rajavi paid tribute to the four men, saying: “Babak, Pouya, Mohammad and Akbar are glorious teachers of truth and sacrifice in our time, and their names will remain forever in the history of Iran.
“They were valiant men who did not succumb to any torture or pressure and remained firm on their vow and contract to the end.”
He called on the United Nations and its member states to condemn the executions and take action to save the large number of political prisoners currently on death row in Iran.
He added, “The inaction of the international community only encourages this bloodthirsty regime to continue its crimes and executions.”
Hossein Abedini, deputy director of the NCRI’s office in the UK, told The Sun that the war with the US and Israel was seen as a “blessing” for the corrupt regime, because it stops the Iranian people from taking to the streets and rising up.
He said: “The fundamentalist clerical regime has always operated on two legs since its inception: domestic repression, especially the repression of the key opposition movement PMOI/MEK, more than 100,000 of whose members and supporters have been executed over the past 4.5 decades, and the export of terrorism and warmongering to hide its deep internal crises.
“For a regime that places no value on the lives or welfare of its people and spends Iran’s national wealth on nuclear programs, missiles, and regional proxies, war is a ‘blessing’; in the current chaotic environment, it serves as an excuse to dissuade people from taking to the streets and hide widespread discontent.”
He said the executions, along with the heavy presence of security forces at checkpoints in Iranian cities, showed that “the regime sees its main enemy as organized resistance and people waiting for an opportunity to emerge.”
Abedini added: “As the Iranian resistance has repeatedly said, the only solution to the Iranian issue is the overthrow of the regime by the people and their organized resistance.
“Neither the failed policy of appeasement, which allowed the regime to reach nuclear limits, nor foreign wars and bombings will lead to the collapse of this system.
“It is time for the international community to stand with the Iranian people and support the NCRI’s provisional government based on Mrs. Rajavi’s 10-point plan.
“The Provisional Government will hold free elections within a maximum of six months after the fall of the regime, to elect a Constituent Assembly which will draft the Constitution of the new Republic and transfer sovereignty to the people.
“Mrs. Rajavi’s plan provides the basic framework for an independent, peaceful and non-nuclear Iran based on the separation of religion and state, gender equality and the guarantee of the rights of all nationalities.
“This is the only real solution to ending hostilities and guaranteeing democracy and peace in Iran and the war-torn Middle East.”
