Kurdistan Human Rights Network

Kurdish political prisoner Mehrab Abdollahzadeh has been executed in secret at Orumiyeh Central Prison, without any notification to his family or defence lawyers. Security bodies have refused to release his body to his family.

Abdollahzadeh, born on 15 March 1998 in Orumiyeh, was arrested on 22 October 2022 at his workplace by agents of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Intelligence Organisation during the “Women, Life, Freedom” uprising.

An informed source in Orumiyeh, who spoke to the Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN), said: “Mehrab Abdollahzadeh, who had been transferred to solitary confinement on 28 April 2026 following a verbal altercation with one of the guards in the visitation hall, was executed at this prison without his family or lawyers being informed.”

On the timing of his death, the source added: “Despite Islamic Republic of Iran media announcing that the sentence executed in the early hours of Sunday, 3 May, evidence suggests he was most likely executed one day earlier, at the same time as two other prisoners, Nasser Bakerzadeh and Yaghoub Karimpour, and that, on the advice of security bodies, the execution date was announced as today.”

According to the source, in the days before his execution, while held in solitary confinement, Abdollahzadeh was again interrogated by security bodies and pressed to express remorse, which he refused, maintaining his innocence.

According to an audio recording from Abdollahzadeh in possession of the KHRN, he was subjected to 38 days of physical and psychological torture at the IRGC Intelligence detention facility in order to make him accept responsibility for participating in the protests and for the killing of a Basij member.

He initially denied all charges, but capitulated after a woman with whom he was in a romantic relationship was arrested and threats were made to detain his mother and other family members, he was compelled to comply with the interrogators’ demands, and stated that he had punched one of the Basij members several times.

He consistently denied the charges throughout all subsequent interrogations and court proceedings, and requested that mobile phone location data be used to establish that he was not present at the scene. Video footage of the killing, held by security bodies, does not show him at the location.

For the first 38 days of his detention, his family had no knowledge of his whereabouts, and he was denied access to both a lawyer and family visits throughout that period.

Once the interrogations concluded, the case was referred to Branch Seven of the Investigation Office of the Orumiyeh Public and Revolutionary Prosecution, and subsequently, following the issuance of an indictment, sent to Branch One of the Orumiyeh Islamic Revolutionary Court.

Following the conclusion of the interrogations, the case was referred to Branch Seven of the Investigating Directorate of the Orumiyeh Public and Revolutionary Prosecutor’s Office.

An indictment was subsequently issued, and the case was forwarded to Branch One of the Islamic Revolutionary Court in Orumiyeh, which after three hearings, sentenced him to death on 19 September 2024.

The sentence was formally communicated to him in prison on 21 October 2024.

After his lawyers filed an appeal, the case was referred to the Supreme Court, where it was assigned to Branch Nine.

On 18 December 2025, the sentence execution judge informed him that Branch Nine of the Supreme Court had upheld his death sentence, and requested that he sign a petition for clemency and pardon – a request he declined, maintaining his innocence to the end.

After Abdollahzadeh’s death sentence was upheld by the Supreme Court, his lawyer, Sidad Shirzad, wrote on social media platform X that: “The retrial request submitted on 20 December [2025] was rejected by Branch 39 of the Supreme Court on 27 January, and despite the re-registration of a retrial request on 17 February, Branch 39 refused to issue an order to halt the execution of the verdict. This refusal comes despite the explicit wording of Note to Article 478 of the Criminal Procedure Code regarding the issuance of an order to halt the execution of the verdict upon receipt of a retrial request, which leaves no room for argument or alternative interpretation.”

Shirzad stated that Abdollahzadeh was arrested during the nationwide protests of 2022 and later sentenced to death on charges of “spreading corruption on earth” (efsad-e fel-arz), allegedly in connection with the killing of Basij member Abbas Fatemiyeh in Orumiyeh.

He added that the case contained numerous procedural and substantive flaws and that the murder accusation and the victim family’s complaint had never been examined by a competent court.

The lawyer also stated that the death sentence was issued on charges of “spreading corruption on earth” rather than murder, and despite repeated objections to jurisdiction, the case was not referred to the Juvenile Criminal Court One.

Shirzad referred to other issues, such as the charges being presented in the absence of legal representation, the body being buried without an autopsy and before the forensic medical report was issued, and the absence of any valid confession to judicial authorities. He also noted the lack of explicit mention of his client’s name in the statements of the deceased’s commander, colleagues and witnesses present at the scene.

He described these issues as part of the serious flaws in Abdollahzadeh’s seven-volume case file.