Memorial for Ali-Sina Mostafavi in Kerman cancelled under pressure from government forces

The memorial for Ali-Sina Mostafavi, a mountaineer and musician from Bam who was executed in Kerman Central Prison on Wednesday 14 October 2026, was cancelled under pressure from government forces. It was due to be held on Friday 16 October from 3:30 pm to 5:30 pm at the Nastaran Hall in Kerman. Iran International reported the cancellation on the basis of information it received.

No further details have been published about the body that pressured the family to cancel the ceremony. Preventing public mourning for executed political prisoners and for those killed, from summoning families to cancelling ceremonies and restricting funerals, is a method the Islamic Republic has used repeatedly to stop memorials from turning into protest gatherings.

The case of Ali-Sina Mostafavi

DIAR had earlier written in its report on the execution of Ali-Sina Mostafavi that the Islamic Republic's judiciary accused him of involvement in two shootings in Kerman between late March and May, and of supporting Prince Reza Pahlavi and Israel. Branch 1 of the Kerman Revolutionary Court sentenced him to death on a charge of "moharebeh" (waging war against God), and Branch 41 of the Supreme Court upheld the sentence on 28 September. None of the judiciary's claims has been independently confirmed.

According to human rights organizations, armed agents arrested Ali-Sina Mostafavi at his home in the early hours of 25 April and beat him during the arrest; these organizations had expressed concern that a forced confession had been extracted from him. Prince Reza Pahlavi's media office also called him a political prisoner and said his confessions were extracted under torture in a show trial. Ali-Sina Mostafavi was a mountaineer who had climbed in the Himalayas.

After the execution of Ali-Sina Mostafavi, the Islamic Republic could not tolerate even a memorial for him in Kerman.