A disabled man who was recently sentenced to death on charges of “espionage for Israel” has detailed the shocking circumstances of his arrest, interrogation, and judicial process in a letter from Orumiyeh Central Prison.
Yaghoub Karimpour, an Azerbaijani Turkic citizen and member of the Yarsan religious minority, was sentenced to death in November 2025 following a trial that lasted less than 15 minutes.
Ministry of Intelligence agents arrested Karimpour in Miandoab, West Azerbaijan Province, on 16 June 2025 and transferred him to the security agency’s detention centre in Orumiyeh, the provincial capital.
In a letter from Orumiyeh Central Prison, obtained by the Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN), Karimpour says he was subjected to severe physical and psychological torture for approximately two months to force him into making false confessions regarding “collaboration with Mossad agents and transmitting intelligence data”.
He denies all charges, stating he had no access to state secrets.
Karimpour was denied the right to legal representation until his case was referred to Branch One of the Islamic Revolutionary Court in Orumiyeh. The court session was held via video conference in mid-October 2025.
He was not able to defend himself effectively during the hearing and was sentenced to death by Judge Sajjad Dousti on the charge of “spreading corruption on Earth” (efsad-e fil-arz) through “espionage for Israel”, in a trial lasting less than 15 minutes.
On 8 November 2025, he was informed of the ruling in Orumiyeh Central Prison, and following an appeal by his lawyer, the case was referred to Branch Nine of the Supreme Court.
According to the letter, Karimpour – who is a beneficiary of the State Welfare Organisation, unemployed, and suffers from a severe physical disability requiring constant medication and treatment due to spinal surgery, lung surgery, and chronic mental health issues – was denied access to vital medication during his detention.
He emphasised that interrogators used the withholding of medication as a pressure tactic to extract forced confessions.
He states that many of the declarations included in his file, which formed the basis of the “espionage” charge and the death sentence, were written under torture, duress, and at the dictation of interrogators.
In another part of the letter, he clarifies: “I have never held a position anywhere, nor have I frequented or entered government, military, or institutional centres. Naturally, I had no access to ordinary, confidential, or top-secret data, and I have not sent any information to any place or person; so how can they accuse me of espionage? [Ministry of] Intelligence agents want to blame their own faults and shortcomings on ordinary people; because if they were not at fault, so many commanders, scientists, and ordinary people would not have been killed in the 12-day war.”
The letter also mentions severe pressure applied through the simultaneous detention and interrogation of his wife. According to the prisoner, interrogators forced him to sign false statements by threatening to intensify the torture of his wife. He described this as a clear instance of psychological torture which, given his mental state and underlying health conditions, has left devastating effects on his well-being.
In another section, Karimpour lists numerous violations of his legal rights, including: failure to inform him of his right to a lawyer; preventing the presence of a lawyer (even a court-appointed one); blindfolded interrogations; death threats from the investigator; failure to provide evidence for the charges; the court’s disregard for claims of torture; holding the trial in absentia (via video) in under 15 minutes; and changing the indictment on the day of the trial to a capital offence.
Concluding the letter, he refers to the difficult conditions in prison, noting his inability to perform personal tasks without the assistance of fellow inmates, and expresses serious concern regarding his physical and mental health.
Karimpour is married and holds a law degree from the University of Maragheh in East Azerbaijan Province.
The full text of Karimpour’s letter:
“I, Yaghoub Karimpour, from the city of Miandoab, born in 1984, was arrested during a raid by agents on 16 June 2025 on charges of communicating with Mossad agents. On the night of the arrest, I was transferred to the Ministry of Intelligence detention centre in Orumiyeh and held for two months in the cramped, dark detention centre of the Intelligence Ministry. I am unemployed, married, a tenant, and a welfare recipient, with no income other than my welfare pension and subsidies. I suffer from a severe physical disability; my entire spine has been plated, I suffer from severe shortness of breath due to surgery on my right lung, my limbs, namely my arms and legs, are incapacitated, and I suffer from a severe neurological and mental illness, and I have fear, panic, and phobia of narrow, dark, and enclosed spaces. Also, due to my skeletal deformity, severe pressure is placed on my heart.
Nervous attacks exacerbate my shortness of breath and increase my heart rate. I have medical records for each of my conditions and am under treatment. Despite my specific physical and mental status, I was treated like an ordinary person and subjected to various forms of torture, duress, and coercive suggestion to extract false statements dictated by the interrogator.
Among the violations committed was that a few days after my arrest, they brought my wife to the Ministry of Intelligence office in Orumiyeh. Simultaneous with my interrogation, they interrogated my wife in the adjacent room. By exploiting her emotions and using various forms of torture and threats, they caused my wife to cry, such that I could hear her crying. They then threatened me, saying that if I did not write what they said, my wife’s torture would be intensified.
As I suffer from severe mental illness, my psychological stability was severely disrupted by this, and I was placed under the most intense mental and psychological pressure; I could not endure it. Many things were dictated to me, and I wrote untruths involuntarily and out of helplessness so that the torture and harassment of my wife would not continue.
I have never held a position anywhere, nor have I frequented or entered government, military, or institutional centres. Naturally, I had no access to ordinary, confidential, or top-secret data, and I have not sent any information to any place or person; so how can they accuse me of espionage? [Ministry of] Intelligence agents want to blame their own faults and shortcomings on ordinary people; because if they were not at fault, so many commanders, scientists, and ordinary people would not have been killed in the 12-day war.
Further violations were committed against me, including:
Failure to observe Article 49 of the Code of Criminal Procedure regarding informing the family of the accused’s detention and the right to contact family, and exploiting this issue to pressure me.
Failure to explain the right to have a lawyer, contrary to Articles 5, 48, and 190 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, even a judiciary-approved lawyer.
Conducting interrogations while I was blindfolded, with the interrogator sitting or standing behind me, accompanied by repeated humiliation and death threats, despite my severe mental illness and fear of darkness and confined spaces.
Prevention of a lawyer’s presence, even a court-appointed one.
The interrogator preventing my access to psychiatric medication during detention in the Ministry of Intelligence detention centre. I have suffered from mental illness for years and am under treatment, with a severe dependency on medication prescribed by a psychiatrist. Not taking these medicines causes me severe and significant side effects, including nervous attacks, respiratory arrest, increased heart rate, loss of balance, and the onset of psychological disturbances. Unfortunately, the interrogators exploited the withholding of medication and my severe dependency on it as a tool to create further terror and force me to write dictated statements, deliberately depriving me of the right to medical treatment during detention.
Threats of execution made against me by the investigator of Branch Six, Mr Atashbar, during the interrogation.
Failure to provide legal documentation of the accusation and evidence for the attribution of the charge in the indictment. My lawyer objected to this, but the judge paid no attention.
Failure to observe local jurisdiction and the illegal transfer of the case, contrary to Articles 310 and 341 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.
Failure by the prosecutor or his representative to serve and read the indictment in the court session, with the head of the court limiting himself to a brief reading of the charges. Due to the faulty audio and video system of the electronic court, I did not understand the charges. Despite a formal request from myself and my lawyer to the branch presidency to hold an in-person trial, this request was ignored. Despite the charge carrying a capital sentence, the court session was held in absentia via audio-video system and video conference, lasting less than 15 minutes.
Despite my repeated statements regarding torture and the extraction of statements under torture and duress, the branch judge, Mr Sajjad Dousti, with complete indifference, did not conduct a reinvestigation and ignored this matter.
Given my severe physical disability and mental illness, interrogations were conducted beyond usual hours and even on holidays.
It is necessary to mention that on the day of the trial, my charge was changed to espionage for the benefit of the Zionist regime and the transmission of data. I spend my days and nights with difficulty in the closed environment of the prison, facing serious problems in performing personal tasks, with many of my personal needs being attended to by fellow prisoners and cellmates.”
