Karim Khojasteh, a Political Prisoner Held in Rasht Prison, Sentenced to Death
9-December-2025
Category: Prisoners
8 December 2025
News Category: Prisoners
Breathing in Confinement – Engineer Karim Khojasteh, a political prisoner held in Rasht Prison, has been sentenced to death on the charge of “baghi” (armed rebellion).
According to Breathing in Confinement, the news outlet of the Prisoners’ Rights League in Iran, Karim Khojasteh, a political prisoner from Bandar Anzali, has been sentenced to death by Branch 1 of the Rasht Revolutionary Court, presided over by Judge Ahmad Darvish-Goftar. He has been accused of “baghi through supporting the People’s Mojahedin Organisation of Iran (PMOI/MEK).” The ruling was recently delivered to him in prison.
Mr Khojasteh, a 62-year-old engineer and manager of an industrial machinery workshop, is a former political prisoner in the 1980s. He was first arrested in July 2024 on the charge of “propaganda against the state” and was released after about five months on a bail of 500 million tomans. He was re-arrested on 13 March 2025 and subsequently tried in September 2025 at the Rasht Revolutionary Court.
The issuance of this death sentence comes amid reports of serious due-process violations, including lack of adequate access to legal counsel, inability to mount an effective defence, and lack of transparency regarding the evidence presented. These violations are inconsistent with Articles 9, 14, and 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Iran is a state party.
The rapid change of charges and the imposition of the death penalty for such an accusation contradict international standards, including the principles of proportionality and the prohibition of using severe punishments as tools of coercion. Human rights organisations consistently view such rulings as grave violations of the right to life.
The widespread and expedited issuance of death sentences for political prisoners—without respecting fair-trial guarantees—highlights the use of capital punishment as an instrument of political repression. Human rights experts have repeatedly emphasised that such practices blatantly violate Iran’s international obligations and even its own domestic legal principles.
The case of Engineer Karim Khojasteh exemplifies the systemic deficiencies in the judiciary’s handling of political cases, including lack of transparency, disregard for fair-trial standards, reliance on vague criminal charges, and the imposition of disproportionately severe penalties.
Breathing in Confinement, the news outlet of the Prisoners’ Rights League in Iran, strongly condemns the issuance of such unlawful and disproportionate death sentences and calls for the immediate annulment of the ruling and full protection of Mr Khojasteh’s legal and human rights. The organisation further urges the international community, human rights bodies, and the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran to take effective action to prevent the issuance and execution of death sentences against political prisoners, in fulfilment of their responsibility to protect the right to life and uphold fair-trial standards.