Hamid Hoseinnezhad Heydaranlou was secretly executed in Urmia Central Prison.
According to Kolbarews and reports from human rights sources and official media of the Islamic Republic regime, the execution of Hamid Hoseinnezhad Heydaranlou, a Kurdish political prisoner, was carried out in secret on the evening of Monday, April 21, 2025 in Urmia Central Prison.
The 39-year-old prisoner, married and father of three young children, had previously been arrested on April 13, 2023, in the border region of Chaldoran along with several Afghan nationals by Islamic Republic border guards. Despite a bail order being issued, it was revoked through the direct intervention of the Ministry of Intelligence, and he was transferred to the Intelligence Detention Center in Urmia.
Reports state that during his detention, Hamid was subjected to intense physical and psychological torture for 11 months and 10 days. His primary interrogator was identified as someone named “Esteiri.” Alleged confessions extracted under torture and reportedly signed without his ability to read them formed the basis for his death sentence.
In July 2024, Branch One of the Revolutionary Court of Urmia, presided over by Judge Najafzadeh, sentenced Hoseinnezhad to death on charges of “rebellion” and membership in the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) after a brief court session lasting only a few minutes and without legal representation. The Supreme Court upheld the sentence on March 24, 2025, without reviewing exonerating evidence.
The “No to Execution” campaign reported that official documents, including a passport and border stamps, confirmed Hamid was legally out of the country with his family via the Bazargan border crossing at the time of the alleged clashes. Nevertheless, the Iranian judiciary ignored this evidence.
According to the same report, he was transferred to the prison quarantine ward the previous Wednesday. Although international pressure temporarily halted the execution, the sentence was ultimately carried out under secretive conditions without public notice on Monday night.
In their last brief visit, his family saw him in poor condition, shackled at the hands and feet. The only words he repeatedly uttered were: “I am innocent.”
This case once again highlights concerns about human rights violations, torture in detention centers, and the deeply flawed judicial process in the Islamic Republic. Human rights organizations are calling for independent international investigations into the case and a halt to executions based on coerced confessions.
