The Iranian regime reportedly tortured a man to death for the crime of using the internet and abused and executed a 21-year-old karate champion for attending a protest.
Father of two Hesam Alaeddin, 40, was beaten to death after being arrested for using Starlink to access the internet — which has been banned in the country since the US-Iran war started 28 February this year.
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 regime has weaponized nationwide internet blackouts to control its people for years, but this ban been one of the most brutal as leaders struggle to hold power while battling US and Israeli forces after war broke out, the New York Post reported.
News of Alaeddin’s death was reported by Reza Pahlavi — the exiled son of the last Shah of Iran — and spread across shocked posts on social media.
“The brutal and criminal regime of the Islamic Republic killed Hesam Alaeddin under torture after he was reportedly arrested for using Starlink,” Pahlavi wrote on X yesterday. “For 62 days, this regime has shut down the internet and continues to massacre Iranian people. The world cannot stay silent.”
How Alaeddin Was Killed
Alaeddin was detained sometime in the past two weeks after being accused of connecting to the internet with Starlink, IranWire reported.
Iranian regime police searched his home, and when they found the Starlink device, they beat him in the family’s residence until he died, according to IranWire.
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 subsequently spread across social media, with the Independent Persian also reporting on the murder.
Insiders have said the regime is using the internet 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, New York Post claimed.
That 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 7 April.
The Killing Of 21-Year-Old Joonqani
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 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 8 January 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.
*PHOTO CAPTION: Joonqani.
