Arash Rahmanipour, born in 1990, was a teenager who was accused by the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran of membership in the Iran Monarchy Association and the Tondar Association. He was executed on January 28, 2010, at the age of 19, by a Revolutionary Court order.
According to his lawyer, Nasrin Sotoudeh, Arash Rahmanipour was underage, only 16 to 17 years old, at the time of the alleged crime. Sotoudeh denied his participation in the post-election protests of 2009, stating that he had been arrested in April 2009, before the elections, on charges of cooperating with the Iran Monarchy Association. His lawyer also stated that she was not allowed to defend him in what she called a “show trial” in August 2009, and that the accusations against Rahmanipour related to his teenage years. She further revealed that his confessions were obtained under threats against his family. In their only meeting, Rahmanipour told his lawyer that his pregnant sister had been arrested alongside him, and authorities had promised to release her only if he confessed to “undone acts.” His sister later confirmed that she lost her baby after the arrest and spent four days in the ICU. She also stated that the family was initially told the execution order had been overturned and only learned of his execution through television news.
The Tehran Public and Revolutionary Prosecutor's Office initially announced that Rahmanipour was among eleven individuals sentenced to death for involvement in the events following the June 2009 elections, including the Ashura protests of 2009. However, a spokesperson for the Iran Monarchy Association denied any connection between Rahmanipour and their organization. Later, in February 2010, Mohammad Javad Larijani, Secretary of the Human Rights Council of Iran's Judiciary, confirmed that Rahmanipour, along with Mohammadreza Ali-Zamani (who was executed simultaneously), had been imprisoned for months prior to the elections. Larijani stated their charge was the bombing of a Hosseiniyeh in Shiraz in April 2008. The latest statement from the Tehran Prosecutor's Office declared their charge as an unsuccessful attempt to set fire to Imamzadeh Zayd and Imamzadeh Ali Akbar in Tehran.
The execution drew significant reactions. Ebrahim Nabavi, in an open letter to Ali Khamenei, criticized the judiciary, writing: “One person was imprisoned in April and, through torture, promises, and deception, was asked to confess to having caused unrest three months after his imprisonment. A lie uglier than this… You yourselves created a false organization, attracted some simple-minded young opponents to it, taught them violence, took them out of the country and arrested them at the border, imprisoned them and made false promises, forced them to play a false role before the people, and now you have executed them for all this cooperation!” Conversely, Ahmad Jannati, addressing Sadegh Larijani, the head of the judiciary, praised the executions, saying: “You have an anti-oppression, revolutionary, and Velayi spirit. So, for God's sake, just as you explicitly executed two people, and may your hands not hurt, stand firm like a man.”