Brave Iranian protester’s final act of defiance — seconds before he was hanged in public

A young Iranian protester courageously defied the regime in the final seconds of his life before he was hanged in a public square — removing the black hood covering his face and kissing the hangman’s noose.

Abolfazl Sepahi-Badejani, 23, made the powerful gesture just before he was put to death in the southern Iranian city of Isfahan on July 28, for participating in January’s anti-government protests, The Australian reported.

Cell phone video purports to show Abolfazl, wearing a blue jacket with his hands bound in front, pulling off his black hood and lifting up the noose from his neck before kissing it and putting it back.

He then forms a heart with his fingers for the crowd, who chant “Shame on you!” in Farsi at the executioners.

The video, posted widely on social media, has not been independently verified by The Post.

Abolfazl Sepahi Badjani, smiling, before his public execution. Iran Human Rights

Abolfazle was hanged alongside his codefendant, Amirhossein Safari-Hosseinabadi, 27, in front of a crowd who had gathered hours earlier for the dawn execution in defiance of armed guards.

The two men were convicted of killing four police officers during January’s protests, state media reported.

Military police opened fire on the protesters, killing one woman, before the crowds dispersed, a witness told The Australian.

Badjani made a defiant gesture on the gallows. Iran Human Rights

“It was horrific. Even during the January protests, I did not hate the regime this much. People chanted, ‘We despise your azaan [call to prayer], your religion, and you,” the witness said.

The public hangings, carried out after the call to prayer, were part of the Iranian regime’s “calculated use of death to terrorize the public,” according to Iranian lawyer Mohammad Mostafaei, who has a long record of defending activists and protesters.

“The target is not only the condemned prisoner, but the entire society. Public execution turns justice into a spectacle of power,” he told The Australian.

Since last week, Alikhani Square, the scene of the executions, has remained under heavy armed guard, while unrest has spread across Iran.

Videos shared on social media show protests in Isfahan as well as the capital Tehran, with many calling for international action.

“What are the UN and international human rights organizations doing? Are they dead? What are they paid for?” one citizen asked the outlet Iran International.

The hangings, coming after more than four months of conflict with Israel in the US, show the weakness of the regime, not its strength, according to Mostafaei.

“A legitimate government does not need to display death in a city square to prove its authority,” he said.