In a normal country, a brilliant mind like Amirhossein Moradi would be pushing the boundaries of physics in a research lab or observatory. Instead, this elite student from Iran’s prestigious Sharif University of Technology—and a 2017 silver medalist in the National Astronomy Olympiad—is languishing in Evin Prison as a political prisoner.
Arrested on April 10, 2020, alongside his peer Ali Younesi, Moradi was subjected to nearly two years of detention and interrogation before being sentenced to 16 years in prison on charges of supporting the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK). Yet, despite years of unjust captivity, Moradi’s spirit remains unbroken. He recently released an open letter from Evin Prison vehemently rejecting a “clemency” offer from the regime’s judiciary for the remainder of his sentence.
The full text of Moradi’s open letter
Written in the aftermath of a massive popular uprising and a brutal wave of state-sanctioned killings, Moradi’s letter is a profound testament to the bravery of the Iranian resistance. By choosing to stand with his executed comrades, he exposes the regime’s failure to terrorize dissidents.
The full translated text of his letter reads:
The smiling faces of my dearest friends (Vahid, Pouya, Babak, Mohammad, Shahrokh, and Abolhassan) at the time of our separation and their transfer from Evin to the Ghezel Hesar slaughterhouse, who until their last breath did not submit to the humiliation of surrendering to your vile government, is right before my eyes, and I imagine their mothers and fathers.
As I explicitly stated in September 2024, I repeat now: I did not want and do not want your shameful amnesty. In response to the bloody killings of December-January and the recent criminal executions, it is most certainly and undoubtedly us, the oppressed people of Iran, who are in the position of pardoning you, but rest assured that we neither forgive nor forget.
I, too, until the people of Iran are freed from your evil, will not even think of my own release from captivity, and I will not beg you for it.
Amirhossein Moradi
May 12, 2026
A regime running on empty amid a wave of bloodshed
Moradi’s defiant letter arrives at a time of profound crisis for the clerical regime. Following the nationwide uprisings of December 2025 and January 2026 that brought the ruling establishment to its knees, the state has rapidly accelerated its terror campaign. Driven by weakness and desperate to maintain control after the death of former supreme leader Ali Khamenei, the regime has increasingly weaponized the gallows.
Between March 30 and April 4, 2026, authorities hanged six political prisoners and PMOI members: Vahid Bani Amerian, Abolhassan Montazer, Mohammad Taghavi, Ali Akbar (Shahrokh) Daneshvarkar, Babak Alipour, and Pouya Ghobadi. These men were highly educated professionals—including engineers, a law graduate, and an architect—who had spent months enduring severe physical and psychological torture in Evin Prison’s Ward 209 before refusing to bargain with their lives.
Their executions were followed by the hanging of two other PMOI members, Hamed Validi and Mohammad (Nima) Massoum Shahi. At the same time, the regime is executing rebellious youth arrested during the recent uprising.
Executing Iran’s freedom fighters has not saved the regime. As Moradi’s powerful letter demonstrates, the blood of these martyrs has only fortified the resolve of a resistance movement that will not stop until liberation is achieved.