Fallen hero Akbar Hamzeh-Hosseini: ninjutsu champion's birthday celebrated at his grave

Prince Reza Pahlavi's media office on Friday 23 October 2026 released a video of the birthday celebration of Akbar Hamzeh-Hosseini, one of the immortal fallen, at his grave; a young athlete who, in the peak days of the Dey 1404 uprising, was shot by the Islamic Republic's forces of repression in Fardis, Karaj, in Alborz province, and lost his life.

In the message, the Prince's office called him "one of those killed in Iran's Lion and Sun national revolution" and a young man who "gave his life for the homeland". The message's title is a line his family and companions recited at his grave: "This withered flower has become a gift to the homeland." In the video, instead of mourning, his family and friends celebrated his birthday at the graveside; a ritual that the families of the fallen have repeated many times in the months since the Dey uprising.

Who was Akbar Hamzeh-Hosseini

Akbar Hamzeh-Hosseini, who is recorded in some lists as Akbar Hamzeh Seyed-Hosseini, was from Kuhdasht in Lorestan province and lived in Fardis. He was a champion and coach of the martial art of ninjutsu, and his name appears on the list of athletes who lost their lives in the crackdown on the Dey uprising. He had previously been arrested and imprisoned during the nationwide protests of 2022.

According to published reports on his death, Akbar Hamzeh-Hosseini was killed by live ammunition fired by security forces at the Abresan crossroads in Fardis. The date of his death is given in the reports as the evening of 8 or 9 January 2026; the very nights when Fardis was one of the bloodiest scenes of the crackdown in Alborz province. His body was buried in his hometown of Kuhdasht. In messages shared after his death, he is quoted as having said before going out into the streets that if anything happened to them, people should know they had gone out for freedom.

Birthdays at the grave: the families of the fallen seek justice

Celebrating birthdays at the graves of the fallen has become one of the ways families seek justice in recent months; a ritual the Islamic Republic has repeatedly tried to stop with summonses, arrests and pressure on families. One example is Zohreh Ghadimi, the mother of Abolfazl Joghatayi, who is in prison in Mashhad on the charge of visiting the graves of those killed in the Dey uprising.

In recent weeks, Prince Reza Pahlavi's media office has been publishing the stories of the Dey uprising's fallen one by one; stories that, against the authorities' attempt to erase the names of those killed, keep their faces and lives alive. DIAR showed earlier in an analysis that the wave of intimidation against protesters and justice-seeking families is a sign not of strength but of the Islamic Republic's dependence on fear for its survival.

Akbar Hamzeh-Hosseini, a ninjutsu champion from Kuhdasht, was killed by the bullets of the forces of repression in Fardis during the Dey uprising, and now his birthday is celebrated at his grave.