The 23rd birthday of the fallen Alireza Sedian, marked at his grave in Farrokhshahr

The family and loved ones of Alireza Sedian, who fell in the January uprising, from Farrokhshahr in Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari province, celebrated his 23rd birthday at his grave. The office of Prince Reza Pahlavi has published a video of the ceremony showing his loved ones beside the grave.

Alireza Sedian was born in autumn 2003 (Mehr 1382). On the evening of Thursday, 8 January 2026, at the height of the January uprising, he was hit by live war ammunition near the Basij base in Basij Square in Farrokhshahr and died of the severity of his wounds. According to information recorded in the documentation database "Witness Report", bullets fired at close range by Basij forces struck his head, face and chest.

"If I don't come back, don't let me be forgotten"

According to his loved ones, Alireza was the only son and the breadwinner of the family, and acquaintances knew him as a good-natured and kind young man. The office of Prince Reza Pahlavi has written that he told his loved ones that very night: "If I don't come back, don't let me be forgotten." By holding his birthday ceremony at his grave, his family are now keeping that wish alive.

Holding birthday celebrations at the graves of the fallen has, in the months since the January uprising, become one of the common forms of remembrance and protest by families across Iran; ceremonies that have repeatedly faced pressure and summonses from the security forces. A few days ago, too, the family of Alireza Raisi, an executed protester of the January uprising, found his hidden grave in the Anarak desert.

The killing of the January protesters

Alireza Sedian is one of hundreds of protesters killed by the Islamic Republic's forces of repression during the days of the January uprising. New accounts of the killings are still being published; among them Amirmohammad Hatami, an 18-year-old from Shahin Shahr, who was killed on the night of 9 January by a coup de grâce shot to the eye. The Islamic Republic's officials have so far held none of those responsible for these killings to account.

By celebrating his birthday at his grave, the family of Alireza Sedian, the 22-year-old fallen from Farrokhshahr, kept his last wish alive: not to be forgotten.