Nasser Bekrzadeh, a Kurdish prisoner accused of “espionage for Israel” has been sentenced to death for a third time by the Islamic Revolutionary Court in Orumiyeh, West Azerbaijan Province, despite the Supreme Court having twice overturned his conviction.
Sidad Shirzad, Bekrzadeh’s lawyer, said that Branch Two of the Islamic Revolutionary Court had issued the latest death sentence despite objections and considerations raised by the Supreme Court, which had previously overturned the death sentence on two occasions.
In a statement published on the X social media platform, Shirzad said: “Despite the death sentence having been overturned twice by Branch 39 of the Supreme Court, Branch Two of the Revolutionary Court of Orumiyeh issued Bekrrzadeh’s death sentence for a third time and notified me and my colleagues, Amir Raeisian and Nihad Iran-Doust, on Tuesday [3 February]. This sentence has been issued despite the Supreme Court’s multiple objections and the reasoning of Branch 39 remaining in the third death verdict, to which Branch Two of the Revolutionary Court of Orumiyeh has paid no attention. Previously, in two separate rulings and for multiple reasons, Supreme Court judges did not establish espionage for Israel, and the death sentence was overturned.”
Bekrzadeh was arrested by the Intelligence Organisation of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in Orumiyeh on 9 August 2023.
After a few weeks, he was temporarily released upon signing a pledge to cooperate with Iran’s security services.
After several weeks in detention, he was temporarily released to cooperate with security bodies.
However, he was re-arrested by the IRGC Intelligence Organisation on 2 January 2024 and held for several months in the IRGC’s Al-Mahdi base detention centre in Orumiyeh before being transferred to Orumiyeh Central Prison.
His trial took place on 2 November 2024 in Branch One of the Islamic Revolutionary Court of Orumiyeh, presided over by Judge Najafzadeh, where he was sentenced to death on charges of “espionage for Israel”.
Following an appeal submitted by his defence team, the Supreme Court’s Branch 39 overturned the death sentence and referred the case for retrial to another court of equal authority.
In April 2025, one of his lawyers, Amir Raeisian, confirmed that the Supreme Court had overturned the ruling and that the case would be heard by another branch of the Islamic Revolutionary Court in Orumiyeh.
Raeisian stated that his client, a 25-year-old individual active in the tourism sector, had been accused on the basis of suspicion of sending information to individuals affiliated with Israel.
Despite previous interventions by the Supreme Court, Branch Two of the Islamic Revolutionary Court of Orumiyeh, presided over by Judge Shahini, sentenced him to death again following a retrial.
