US President Donald Trump on Monday, July 20, reposted a message by activist Masih Alinejad regarding the execution of Erfan Esfandiari, a detainee from the January protests, on his Truth Social platform.
In her post, Alinejad wrote that Erfan Esfandiari, a 19-year-old and an only child, was executed on Monday. She emphasised that Esfandiari had neither killed anyone nor possessed a weapon, but was sentenced to death solely for opening his family’s front door to provide refuge to protesters fleeing security forces.
She added that Esfandiari was among 12 defendants in the Alikhani Square case in Isfahan who were arrested during the January 2026 protests. According to Alinejad, all 12 individuals were moved to solitary confinement a day earlier, and Esfandiari’s death sentence was carried out on Monday.
Describing the Islamic Republic as a regime that executes young people out of fear of a generation that refuses to remain silent, Alinejad urged her followers to keep Esfandiari’s name alive.
Following Trump’s repost, Alinejad published a follow-up message expressing gratitude for the US President’s attention to the latest wave of executions in Iran. She noted that, during the ongoing conflict, Trump had called on the Islamic Republic to halt the execution of protesters and later stated that Iranian officials had promised him they would do so, a promise she said was never kept.
