Photo of Young Reza
Gholam Hossein is the owner of a side walk fast food stand in the city of Shiraz, Iran. He was an eye-witness to the incidents that led to the execution verdict of Reza Alinejad. Following is the translation of his testimonial letter that was sent to Nazanin Afshin-Jam by Reza Alinejad’s brother, Ali:
I, Gholam Hossein Chehreh Negar, conscientiously declare that at the night of the incident, both Mr. Esmail Daroudi and Mr. Mohammad Firouzi were under the influence of alcohol. I could sense their status, they had been drinking, looking to get into a fight. The night before they also wanted to fight and three nights prior to the incident, they were saying inappropriate words to a woman which was about to cause a fight.
On the night of the incident, Reza and his friend after eating Samosas at my stand, were about to leave when Daroudi and Firouzi arrived. The two had been drinking that night and were rather drunk. Daroudi made a few profane comments to Reza and said to him “hey babe, hold on, I have something to do with you”. Reza respectfully replied “hey brother, you were talking to me?” and Daroudi responded, “yes, I was talking to you!”. Reza wanted to leave but he (Doroudi) continued trying to instigate him. He eventually started the quarrel with Reza and they (daroudi and Firouzi) quickly took out two nunchaku (a Japanese weapon used in martial arts). and started beating Reza as much as they possibly could. One nunchaku belonged to Daroudi and was made of iron and the other that was Firouzi’s was wooden.
I went to them and said: “stop hitting the poor kids”. They responded by threatening to beat me up too and then the nunchaku hit my finger. By then Reza was covered in blood. Blood from Reza’s head injury had poured in front of my food stand until they were further away . I had to back off because they were bad people. They beat people, steal and create disturbance.
Finally they were away from me and I did not witness what followed after and it was another individual who explained to me the rest of the incident . But Reza was beaten up very badly and the two had surrounded him. It must also be said that they (Daroudi and Firouzi ) threatened me many times that I should not go to the court. Even with more threats, they disallowed me to attend the second court. However, now I am ready to attend any (new) court sessions and to testify my comments after swearing on the Holy Koran.
Gholam Hossein Chehreh Negar (NOTARY STAMP)