Secret Execution of Political Prisoner Hamid Hosseinnezhad Heydaranlou at Urmia rison
22-April-2025
Category: executions
21 April 2025
News Category: Executions
Breathing in Confinement – The death sentence of a political prisoner has been carried out at Urmia Prison.
According to Breathing in Confinement, the news outlet of the Prisoners’ Rights League in Iran, political prisoner Hamid Hosseinnezhad Heydaranlou was secretly hanged at Urmia Prison.
As reported by Breathing in Confinement, Hamid Hosseinnezhad Heydaranlou, aged 39, was arrested on 12 April 2024 and forced under torture to sign a pre-written confession, despite being illiterate. In July 2024, he was sentenced to death on charges of rebellion (baghi) by Branch 1 of the Urmia Revolutionary Court, presided over by Judge Najafzadeh.
On 15 April 2025, he was transferred to the quarantine ward of Urmia Prison in preparation for execution. A request for retrial had been submitted by his lawyer, but the judicial authorities neither confirmed nor denied its status.
Hamid Hosseinnezhad’s execution was carried out following an unfair and opaque trial, based on confessions extracted under torture and coercion, and without due legal process—despite his family staging a six-day sit-in outside Urmia Prison demanding a halt to the execution.
As of the time of this report, the execution of this prisoner has not been announced by official resources.
Annual Report on Executions in Iran
According to the annual report by the Statistics Centre of the Prisoners’ Rights League in Iran, at least 1,170 individuals were executed in Iran in 2024. Among them, six people were executed in public, and the executed also included 38 women and 9 juvenile offenders.