The oppressive Iranian regime is facing international condemnation following reports of the torture and death of a father, alongside the execution of a young karate champion, both for actions deemed criminal by the state.
Hesam Alaeddin, a 40-year-old father of two, was reportedly beaten to death after his arrest for using Starlink to access the internet—an act forbidden in Iran since the onset of the US-Iran conflict on February 28.
Reza Pahlavi, the exiled son of Iran’s last shah, brought attention to Alaeddin’s tragic fate, sharing the news on social media, which quickly gained traction and sparked outrage.
“The Islamic Republic’s brutal and criminal regime killed Hesam Alaeddin through torture after arresting him for using Starlink,” Pahlavi declared on X on Friday. “For 62 days, this regime has shut down the internet and continues its massacre of the Iranian people. The world cannot remain silent.”
Reports from IranWire indicated that Alaeddin was taken into custody within the last two weeks after accusations of using Starlink to access the internet.
According to IranWire, law enforcement officials raided Alaeddin’s home, discovered the Starlink equipment, and subjected him to a fatal beating in front of his family.
Alaeddin’s body was then confiscated and wasn’t returned until his family agreed to not speak about what happened, the outlet reported. He was finally buried Wednesday, but only under tight police security.
Outraged posts about Alaeddin’s death spread across social media, with the Independent Persian also reporting on the murder.
Starlink uses private satellites orbiting the Earth to connect internet with transponders on the surface, which can allow people to access the web anywhere on the planet — and circumvent blackouts in countries such as Iran that strictly regulate how its people connect with the world.
The Iranian regime has weaponized nationwide internet blackouts to control its people for years, but this ban been one of the most brutal as depraved leaders struggle to hold power while battling US and Israeli forces battering the country after war broke out.
Insiders have said the regime is using the blackout to keep its people in the dark about the realities of Iran’s dire position in the war — and to keep the world from seeing what’s being done to the Iranian people to crush dissent.
That reality includes violence similar to what happened in January, when nearly 40,000 people were killed while participating in protests against the regime.
Stories of ongoing executions have filled the headlines throughout the Iran war, even after the ceasefire with the US started April 7.
Among those also recently executed was Sassan Azadvar Joonqani, a 21-year-old karate champion who was hung until dead Thursday for “effective cooperation with the enemy” and “enmity against God,” Euro news reported.
His crime was merely attending a protest in January, where authorities claimed he attacked a police car — though a lawyer assigned to Joonqani argued there was no evidence of that.
Joonqani was arrested Jan. 8 and tortured physically and psychologically until he made a confession which led to his execution, according to Euro News.
He was just one of numerous Iranians murdered in a similar fashion.
At least 145 Iranians are believed to have been executed since the war started, according to the Norway-based Iran Human Rights group.
Many of those people were killed by hanging — with their bodies dropped on publicly erected gallows to terrify the citizenry.
