برای خواندن این مطلب به فارسی اینجا را کلیک کنید
According to Iran’s media, Hamid Hosseinnezhad Heidaranlo has been executed following a controversial case marked by legal ambiguities and claims of forced confession. On Monday, 21 April, his family was summoned to the Urmia Prosecutor’s Office, where Behzad Sarkhanlou, Deputy Prosecutor and senior judiciary official in Urmia, informed them that Hamid had been transferred from Urmia Prison to Tehran, where his death sentence had been carried out. Officials also reportedly told the family that they would not receive the body and were forbidden from holding a funeral ceremony.
The case has drawn attention due to major inconsistencies. Iranian authorities claim that Heidaranlo facilitated the infiltration of Kurdistan Free Life Party (PJAK) members into Iran in a 2017 operation that left eight border guards dead. However, the family and his attorney Osman Mazhin strongly reject this allegation, presenting documented evidence that Hamid was in Turkey with his family at the time of the incident. According to border records, he crossed into Turkey with his mother, wife, and children around 11:00 a.m. from a different border crossing far from the conflict zone and returned to Iran at 5:30 p.m. the same day. Given the mountainous terrain and the distances involved, his lawyer maintains it was physically impossible for him to be present at the site of the attack.
In response to these claims, the Iranian judiciary has stated that the travel documents presented by Heidaranlo’s defense are fake and cannot be considered reliable. However, the defense insists the documents are authentic and verifiable through official border control logs.
Although the execution was initially scheduled for 17 April and was reportedly halted, state television later broadcast a video it described as a confession by Heidaranlo, linking him to the Chalderan border incident. The circumstances of this video remain unclear, raising concerns about coercion. In an emotional video response, his daughter Ronahi insisted on his innocence and said, “My father was with us the entire time in Turkey. He endured a year of solitary confinement and horrific torture, and finally confessed under pressure just to end the pain.”
Following his arrest on smuggling charges, Heidaranlo’s whereabouts were unknown to his family for six months. Sources close to the family report that he was illiterate and denied access to a lawyer during his interrogation, deepening concerns over the fairness of his trial.
The National Iranian American Council strongly condemns the execution of Hamid Hosseinnezhad Heidaranlo amid a flawed and opaque judicial process and allegations of torture, and the authorities’ refusal to return his body or allow a memorial service. The denial of due process, the accusations of torture and extraction of confessions under duress, and the violation of basic human dignity for both the accused and their families represent grave breaches of fundamental rights. This case is a stark reminder of the urgent need for judicial transparency and accountability in Iran.