Iranian footballer detained in protests charged with death penalty offence
Azadeh Akbari
Iran International
Iran International
Former Iranian footballer Mohammad-Hossein Hosseini, who was detained amid nationwide protests earlier this month, has been charged with moharebeh or enmity against God, a charge that carries the death penalty under Iranian law, people familiar with the matter told Iran International.
The sources, who asked not to be named for fear of retaliation, said Hosseini was informed of the charges after being transferred to Vakilabad Prison in Mashhad and told that a court hearing would be held in the coming days.
They said authorities have not allowed him access to a lawyer. According to the sources, prison officials on Tuesday showed Hosseini a written notice listing additional charges of assembly and collusion, cultural propaganda against the system, damage to public property, and leading unrest.
Hosseini, 26, a former youth player for Persepolis and Sepahan from the northeastern city of Mashhad, was detained at around 4 p.m. on January 13, after security forces raided his home.
Hosseini has been arrested six times since 2022, the sources said. His previous detention before this case was linked to his attendance at the seventh-day memorial ceremony on Dec. 12 for Khosrow Alikordi, a lawyer and human rights activist.
The gathering turned into a protest against authorities whom attendees blamed for the jurist's death, leading to attacks on the demonstrators and many arrests, including Iranian Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Narges Mohammedi.
Its emotional sting is so sharp that Iranian state media is seeking to dismiss the heart-rending scene as a fake aimed at sapping national morale, in an effort that was refuted by online sleuths.
Filmed inside the Kahrizak forensic complex, the film shows rows of black body bags laid side by side spilling onto outside pavements on a blustery day.
The father calling out again and again to his missing son Sepehr as if he could answer as he navigates among hundreds of bodies and shrieking loved ones.
Over the course of nearly twelve minutes, the father moves through the nightmarish space, stepping past blood trails left by dragged corpses and parents opening body bags to discover slain sons.
His voice trembles as he calls out: “Sepehr, daddy's Sepehr, where are you, my son? Sepehr, get up, I’ve come for you! I’ll find you, son!”
Screams and sobs from disconsolate relatives punctuate his walk. “Khamenei, you bastard, may God curse you," he finally mumbles weakly. "Come and see what you’ve done … you’ve killed so many young people.”
The video never shows whether the father ultimately finds his son, intensifying the tragedy for many viewers.
State media pushback
Almost simultaneously with the video’s circulation, reports emerged of the death of another young protester, Sepehr Ebrahimi, a 19-year-old amateur boxer killed during protests in Andisheh town in the west of Tehran.
Iran’s state broadcaster, which has a long record of reshaping protest narratives and airing interviews with families under pressure from security agencies, aired a clearly scripted interview with Ebrahimi’s family. The segment framed the viral video as a fabrication by opposition media.
In the broadcast, Ebrahimi’s parents denied any connection to the 'Where are you, son' video, describing themselves as loyal supporters of the Islamic Republic.
His father said their son had left home only to go to a sports club and was killed “for the homeland and the Islamic system” by “rioters and terrorists.” He added that he was an active Basij member and that his brother had died in the Iran-Iraq war. Ebrahimi’s mother spoke of her son’s devotion to the Quran.
The broadcast immediately circulated online, where pro-government users used it to discredit critics and protest reporters.
One wrote: “They made Sepehr their symbol, but didn’t know he was religious, Quran-reading, an athlete — with a Basiji father and a martyr uncle. Now go look for a new project.”
Another added: “The counter-revolutionaries make a business out of people’s pain. But the voices of Sepehr’s parents were a strong slap in the face of this dark trade.”
For many Iranians, the episode recalled 2022, when state TV aired coerced statements from relatives of Nika Shakarami, a 16-year-old protester, to falsely claim she had committed suicide.
A longer cut emerges
In the initial version published by activist journalist Vahid Online, Sepehr’s surname is not mentioned. After the state TV broadcast, Vahid released a longer cut of the video containing additional audio.
In the longer cut, the father can be heard clearly saying the family name “Shokri” while searching among the bodies — confirming that the Sepehr in the video was not Sepehr Ebrahimi. Subsequently, photos of the 25-year-old Sepehr Shokri and footage of his funeral emerged on social media.
One X user noted: “The fact that the Islamic Republic could immediately find a Sepehr Ebrahimi to cover up the killing of another Sepehr shows how many bodies were there — enough to randomly pick one of the Sepehrs.”
Meanwhile, social media users examining Ebrahimi’s Instagram activity reported that he was indeed a protester and had liked posts by US-based exiled Iranian Prince Reza Pahlavi, contradicting claims that he was not a protester.
Efforts by Iran International to reach the family and ascertain whether Sepehr was found have not succeeded as an internet blackout in place since Jan. 8 persists.
For those who have watched his father's misery and shared his heartbreak, closure remains elusive.
