Kurdistan Human Rights Network

Kurdish prisoners Nasser Bakerzadeh and Mehrab Abdollahzadeh were secretly executed on 2 May at Orumiyeh Central Prison.

Authorities have so far refused to hand over the bodies to their families.

Bakerzadeh, 27, from Orumiyeh, was a Kurdish Sunni man who was arrested by IRGC Intelligence on 2 January 2024 and sentenced to death on charges of “espionage for Israel”.

Abdollahzadeh, also 27 years old from 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, and sentenced to death on charges of “spreading corruption on earth” (efsad-e fel-arz).

Prior to their executions, both men had spoken to the Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) in detail about the circumstances of their arrests, the torture they were subjected to, and the deeply flawed judicial processes that led to their death sentences.

Their accounts are published below in full, in their own words, accompanied by the original audio recordings.

Nasser Bakerzadeh:

Let me tell you about the details of my case. About four or five months before I was actually arrested, in the summer of 2023, some men came to my shop in plain clothes. When I asked who they were, they didn’t answer. They were armed and told me that if I didn’t come with them, they would take me by force. I was scared, so I closed up my shop and went with them. I got into a Persia car and a motorcycle followed behind us. I didn’t even consider for a second that they might be from the IRGC Intelligence Organisation, I had no idea who they were.

They took me to a house and blindfolded me. I was terrified. Then I heard one of them say something in [Azerbaijani] Turkish, “eynayi vur” or “iynani vur”, which can mean either “put glasses on him” or “give him an injection.” When I heard it, my fear shot through the roof. I thought they were going to inject me with something and do whatever they wanted with me. But the guy laughed and asked why I looked so scared. I told him what I thought he meant, and he said, “No, I mean put glasses on him.” They put a pair of glasses over my already-covered eyes, so I still couldn’t see anything. Then they brought me into what felt like a private home.

Sitting in that room, I thought they were probably going to ask my father for ransom. That was honestly the only thing that came to mind.

Before they questioned me, which lasted about four hours, they eventually brought up someone named Hashem. I asked, “Which Hashem?” They said it was someone I had worked with. Since I hadn’t done anything wrong, I spoke freely. I told them everything: in the winter of 2020, Hashem had messaged me saying he worked for a tourism company and wanted to collaborate on tourism projects. I agreed, and we ended up working together on several tourism-related jobs. That’s all it was, tourism. We never even took a photo near a military site. We were doing tourism research. This was actually confirmed later at the Supreme Court, which stated that “Nasser was engaged in tourism work.”

Two days after Hashem first contacted me in the winter of 2020, I had actually called the IRGC Intelligence Organisation myself, either on line 113 or 110. I told them that this person wanted to take photos at tourist sites and asked whether that would cause any problems. They told me it would not be a problem at all. So even the authorities had approved it. This was also confirmed in court, and my lawyers used it as evidence.

In fact, one of the four reasons the Supreme Court overturned my sentence was this: the court asked, “Why didn’t the security bodies stop Nasser if what they’re saying is true? He informed them himself.” The second reason was that no evidence was found in my case file to show that Hashem was from Israel or had any connection to Israel. The third reason was that I had no access to any military site, and this was stated twice in the case file. I had no access to classified documents. The fourth reason, which was also a reason by the Supreme Court to reject the claims against me, was that I had no history of armed activity and no connection to such actions whatsoever.

The first time the Supreme Court reviewed my case, they gave me ten years in prison. The second time, the judge at Branch 39 had been replaced. The new judge responded in much stronger terms, writing directly to the previous judge: “When a ruling has been overturned, on what basis are you bringing the same charges back to the Supreme Court? Where is your evidence? Where are your documents?” Those words are written exactly in my verdict.

When I was first arrested, the charge was “acting against national security” and there was no mention of Israel at all. Within two or three hours, that changed to “espionage for Israel.” They took the opportunity and completely reframed the charges against me.

Going back to that house – about eight hours after they brought me there, they said, “Nasser, we will release you on one condition: you help us capture Hashem.” I asked how, but then I just said yes. My main concern was getting out of there, so I agreed. I also had two phones and several laptops with them, and they were supposed to return everything that evening. But they didn’t. That made me nervous. Why were they holding onto my things?

The next day, Thursday, they came to my shop and said there were other phones they wanted. I told them those belonged to my clients, but they insisted. I handed them over, and then I got really scared.

I decided to travel to Sardasht and from there to Bashur – Iraqi Kurdistan – where I stayed for 20 days. Every day I would call the man and say, “If you’re really from the IRGC Intelligence Organisation, come meet me and bring my phones back.” My plan wasn’t to flee. I went to Bashur only to figure out who these people actually were. If they were from the IRGC Intelligence Organisation, I would go back and answer their questions. I hadn’t done anything wrong. And if they weren’t, and they turned out to be just robbers, I would report them to the security forces.

Once I became fairly sure they were actually from the IRGC Intelligence Organisation, I returned to Iran. In the worst case, I thought, they’d imprison me for a year and then let me go.

When I came back, 20 days after 9 August, my father called the man and said, “You took my son. Come and meet us. I’ll bring him with me.” The man agreed but kept making excuses: one day he was sick, the next day something else came up. He never showed. So, my father went to the IRGC Intelligence Organisation to file a complaint. After that, the man went and obtained my arrest warrant, claiming I was a spy. He received the warrant in November 2023, and I was arrested in January 2024.

I was arrested on 2 January 2024. I was then held in solitary confinement in an IRGC Intelligence unit for three months, during which I was subjected to the most severe psychological torture. They left me alone in that cell for twenty days at a time. I had lost my mind.

Mehrab Abdollahzadeh:

I am completely innocent, but they want to make me a scapegoat.

I was in my shop about a month after the protests when they arrested me. They took me to the Ministry of Intelligence office and told me, “You are going to work for us. You will tell us who is doing what behind their backs.” I told them, “I am a shopkeeper. My home is here and my shop is there. I don’t know anyone.” They said, “No, people know you. You are a well-known person. You have to collaborate with us.” I said, “I genuinely don’t know anyone. What kind of collaboration are you talking about? Tell me what you want and I’ll tell you whether I can do it or not.” He said, “You have to give us names.” I said, “I swear to God, I don’t know anyone. I wasn’t at the protests and I didn’t see anyone there. I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

They then subjected me to both physical and psychological torture. They tied me to a chair and beat me for a week. When they realised I was innocent and couldn’t give them what they wanted, they switched to psychological torture. It got so bad that I started hitting my head against the wall, splitting it open in 20 to 30 places. I had lost my mind. They also gave me hallucinogenic substances to try to make me work for them.

After 30 to 40 days, they interrogated me again and showed me a video of a Basij member being killed. They told me they knew I wasn’t in the video and that I hadn’t done it. I asked them, “Then why won’t you release me if you know I didn’t do it? What do I have to do?” He said, “You have to report people to us.” I told him, “I swear to God I haven’t done anything and I have no idea what you’re talking about. If I knew who had done it, I would tell you so you’d let me go.” He then said, “Two Basij members were shot. One was killed and the other survived. You are not in the footage of the one who was killed. As for the one who survived, tell us what you know. Otherwise, I swear to God I will not let you go.” I said, “Sir, I swear to God and to the Prophet, I have not done anything.”

They threatened me in other ways too. They brought in my girlfriend. When she saw me, she said, “You haven’t done anything, Mehrab. You are innocent.” I told her the same: “Yes, I am innocent, but they won’t let me go.” Then, in order to get them to release her, I decided to give them false information. They told me, “You will say that you punched a Basij member several times.” It was already written out on a piece of paper.

They also threatened me with my family. They said, “If you don’t work for us, we will bring in your family, your mother, your sister, everyone.”

At the beginning, I was held for 15 days in a room of about two to three square metres, something like a storage closet, which was worse than solitary confinement. After those 15 days, a doctor came and said, “This man has lost his mind in here.” And honestly, I had. They then moved me to a proper solitary confinement cell. After about 15 to 20 days in solitary, I was transferred to a small room where a few others were being held. After several more days, I was sent to prison.

Once I was in prison, news about my situation started to appear in the media. But my family asked the media to stop, because they didn’t know any better, they believed the legal process would take care of things. They thought the state wouldn’t convict someone for no reason. We believed that confessions made under torture would not be accepted in court and that a judge wouldn’t hand down a sentence without proper grounds. So, we hired a lawyer, and my trial took place seven to eight months later.

The judge asked me, “Do you accept the charges against you, efsad-e fel-arz [spreading corruption on earth] and involvement in murder?” I said, “I swear to God I have committed neither. Look at the video. If I am in it, give me the death sentence. But I am not in that video. I swear to God I did not do this.”

I was tried across three sessions, and the judge listened to me for a total of five minutes. The first two sessions were held by video conference and the last one was in person. The judge was Najafzadeh from Branch One [of the Islamic Revolutionary Court in Orumiyeh]. After the trial, it took them 17 months to inform me of the verdict. For 17 months I sat there wondering what sentence they would give me. Since a judge is not permitted to leave a person in uncertainty for more than 24 months, I was arrested on 22 October 2022 and was informed of my death sentence on 21 October 2024. The charges included “spreading corruption on earth” through participation in the intentional murder of a Muslim Basij man, widespread destruction and rioting, and inappropriate slogans, among other things.

So, I waited in prison. I told myself the judge wouldn’t sentence someone for no reason, and I’d just have to wait and see. My lawyer submitted a defence brief to the court every single week, stating that I was innocent. Until they openly made me the scapegoat. For example, they told me that people from a certain place knew me and knew what kind of person I was, and on that basis I was convicted. In the video that is part of the case file, you can see 50 to 60 people beating and killing the Basij member. I am not in that video. I don’t even know what it is about. Of those 50 to 60 people, some have fled, some have been released on bail, and some have received five-year prison sentences. But I have been handed the death sentence and made the scapegoat, despite not even appearing in the video.

The case was later referred to the Supreme Court, where it emerged that there was a private plaintiff. Now, this private plaintiff knows that I am innocent and is willing to grant consent, but the IRGC is threatening them not to. That is how they keep control of the situation. They will not allow the plaintiff to give their consent. The family of the man who was killed knows I am innocent. They want nothing, not even [blood] money. They say, “We will give you a written letter. Go and speak to [IRGC’s Orumiyeh] Commander Razavi.” But when we go to Razavi, he says, “No. I will have Mehrab executed. He is Namrud.”

Every judge – Majidi, Atabati, and others – tells me to get the plaintiff’s consent. But the IRGC will not allow it. They openly want to make me the scapegoat. They openly threaten my family. We have hired two lawyers, both of whom have written defences and travelled to Tehran, but no one is willing to listen and no one is hearing our voice. All they want is to make me the scapegoat.

This is my last resort. For 38 months I have been pursuing this through legal channels. Everyone has told me to go public with my situation, but I am Iranian and I wanted to follow the legal path. Yet I am being treated unjustly, and they want to make me the scapegoat. Show me evidence. Show me the video and point to me and say “that is you”, and I will tell you to execute me. But I did not do this, and I do not know who did.