Kurdistan Human Rights Network

Pakhshan Azizi, a Kurdish activist who has been detained for almost a year, has been sentenced to death by the Islamic Revolutionary Court in Tehran on charges of "armed insurrection" (baghi) through membership of the Kurdistan Free Life Party (PJAK). The Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) has learned that following the verdict, women political prisoners in Evin Prison staged a sit-in protest in the prison...

Iran's Supreme Court has overturned the death sentence of Mohammad Khezrnezhad, a Kurdish Sunni cleric arrested during the Women, Life, Freedom anti-government uprising. State news agencies reported that the sentence had been commuted to imprisonment, but the exact length of the sentence remains unknown to Khezrnezhad and his legal team. On 11 June, Nasser Atbati, the head of the West Azerbaijan Province Judiciary, told state media:...

Branch 41 of Iran's Supreme Court, presided over by Judge Razini, upheld the death sentence and 16-year prison term for Kurdish Sunni cleric Mohammad Khezrnezhad in early April, the Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) has learned. On 30 December 2023, after 14 months of detention, Branch Three of the Islamic Revolutionary Court of Orumiyeh, West Azerbaijan Province, presided over by Judge Reza Najafzadeh, sentenced Khezrnezhad...

Kurdish political prisoner Hatem Ozdemir, who holds Turkish citizenship, has again been sentenced to death by the Islamic Revolutionary Court on charges of "enmity against God" (moharebeh). This decision follows a previous death sentence by Branch One of the Islamic Revolutionary Court in Khoy, West Azerbaijan Province, on charges of "armed insurrection" (baghi), which was overturned by the Supreme Court in March 2023. Ozdemir's trial took...

Iran has sentenced to death 27-year-old Kurdish prisoner from Orumiyeh Shahin Vasaf on charges of espionage for Israel, a reliable source told Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN). This is the first time a credible source confirms his death sentence, issued on 2 October 2023. Shahin Vasaf, along with another Kurdish citizen Naser Vasaf, was detained by the intelligence forces in Orumiyeh on 21 September 2022. They...

The Public and Revolutionary Prosecutor’s Office in Kamyaran, Kurdistan Province, has charged civilian Pouria Javaheri with offences including "enmity against God" (moharebeh), which carries the death penalty in Iran, and referred his case to Branch One of the Islamic Revolutionary Court in Sanandaj, Kurdistan Province. Javaheri, who is currently being held in temporary detention in Kamyaran Prison, is at risk of being sentenced to death...

Branch Two of the Islamic Revolutionary Court of Orumiyeh has sentenced Kurdish political prisoner Nayeb Askari again to death on charges of "enmity against God" (moharebeh) through "membership" in the Kurdistan Free Life Party (PJAK). In 2018, the Islamic Revolutionary Court of Orumiyeh sentenced him to death on the same charge in absentia. The sentence was overturned after his appeal against the ruling and was referred...

The Branch Three of the Islamic Revolutionary Court of Orumiyeh has sentenced civilians Nasim Namazi, Vafa Hanareh, Aram Omari Berdiani, Rahman Parhazou and Mansour Rasouli to death on charges of "participation in intelligence cooperation and espionage for Israel" over the past few weeks. The court also sentenced five other civilians, Kamran Hanareh, Fakhroddin Doudkanlou Milan, Ashkan Osmannezhad Ganduk, Hassan Omarpour, and Amir Moshtagh Gangachin, to...

Iran executed prisoners Rashid Lavandpour and Khalegh Khezrzadeh in Karaj and Bandar Abbas central prisons today. Lavandpour, who comes from the village of Khargoush in Orumiyeh, West Azerbaijan province, was sentenced to the death penalty several years ago on drug-related charges. The prisoner was transferred to solitary confinement at Karaj Central Prison yesterday and was executed this morning. Khezrzadeh, 32, who comes from Piranshahr, West Azerbaijan province,...