THIS is the little girl who drew a heart-breaking picture of her dad being hanged in front of her eyes after he was sentenced to death.
The desperately sad crayon sketch was drawn by six-year-old Mahna Ahmadi, from Iran, of her father Hamed being hanged as she and her mother watched on.
She drew the picture whilst waiting to see him for the final time.
In the scene, Mahna and her mother hold hands next to a gallows under which her father is standing on a block.
The picture, shared with The Sun by the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), shows the devastating human toll of families torn apart by Iran leader Ali Khmamenei’s killing machine in its bloodiest year yet.
The harrowing picture was referenced in a gut-wrenching letter from a political prisoner called Saeed Masouri who has spent 25 years on Iran’s death row.
He pleaded with the international community and wrote of the psychological torture that over two decades on death row had inflicted on him.
His emotional letter was smuggled out of the notorious Ghezel Hesar prison in Iran and shared with The Sun.
“I do not know what more my eyes must see or what further burdens and heartaches this heart must endure,” Saeed wrote in an open letter to the UN.
“From the time I was sentenced to death and held in solitary confinement, considering every meeting to be my last and every ‘opening and closing’ sound of the door as a death knell, (even after 25 years, every such sound due to psychological conditioning still triggers the same feeling), to witnessing the executions of dear friends and comrades up close – I no longer know how much more I must see and endure.
“I truly do not know…
“I still cannot understand how, after seeing the childish drawing of Mahna, a six-year-old girl, who drew herself and her mother next to her father’s gallows at the gates of Gohardasht Prison while waiting for her last meeting and kissing her father’s face (upon receiving his body), my heart has not yet stopped from these piercing and agonizing beats…!!?
“Currently, we witness an execution every four hours on average.
“During this Christmas period alone, nearly 25 innocent people were executed, equating to almost one execution every 2.5 hours.
“Do not perceive the number of executions merely as figures; these are human lives being lost daily.”
The Iranian regime majorly ramped up the rate of execution of its own people last year – including women, children and political prisoners.
Official records show that over 1,000 prisoners were executed in 2024, but the NCRI warns the true figure is likely to much higher as many of the deaths are kept secret.
On New Year’s Day alone, at least 12 people were hanged in prisons across the country.
Most of the surging executions are by hanging, but there is also evidence of other medieval torture punishments including public flogging, limb-removal and eye-gouging.
Almost half of the executed prisoners were hanged in last quarter of the year.
The NCRI says this pattern shows that the action is directly tied to the regime’s political developments, crises and defeats.
Towards the end of 2024 the Iranian regime and its terror proxies faced severe defeats in the region to Israel, including the defeat of Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Behzad Naziri, a former political prisoner of the regime who managed to escape from one of Iran’s most notorious prisons, has told The Sun how the “unprecedented surge” in executions is a “sign of the weakness of a regime on the verge of being overthrown”.
Naziri, a member of the NCRI’s foreign committee, whose own sister was executed, said: “The unprecedented number of executions indicates that the regime is indeed becoming increasingly
paranoid.
“These actions are a desperate attempt by Khamenei to suppress any dissent and maintain control amid growing unrest and demands for regime change.
“We must bear in mind that this regime has kept its grip on
power through repression and executions at home, and terrorism and warmongering abroad, mainly through its proxies.
“Being the world’s record holder for the number of executions per capita is not a sign of strength; it indicates a failure to quell dissent despite its brutal behaviour.
“Therefore, the unprecedented surge in executions, like with all dictators, shows that this regime is also on its last leg and sees no future for its rule in the face of growing opposition.
“The inhumane murder of its populace under any pretext is only a sign of the weakness of a regime on the verge of being overthrown.”
Of the 1,000 declared executions in 2024, 34 were women and seven were under 18 at the time of their crime.
According to the NCRI, more than half of the executions were for drug-related convictions.
