Five Kurdish political prisoners from Bukan sentenced to death in Woman, Life, Freedom Movement case

Hengaw – Monday, July 7, 2025
Rezgar Beigzadeh Babamiri, Pejman Soltani, Soran Ghasemi, Kaveh Salehi, and Tayfur Salimi Babamiri, five Kurdish political prisoners from the city of Bukan, have been sentenced to death by the Iranian judiciary. In total, they also received 75 years of imprisonment. Six others involved in the same case have also received prison terms.
According to information received by the Hengaw Organization for Human Rights, the five men—Salimi Babamiri, aged 47; Ghasemi, 28; Soltani, 30; Salehi, 40; and Beigzadeh Babamiri, 42—were each sentenced to death by Branch One of the Revolutionary Court in Urmia on charges of “baghi” (armed rebellion) and “terrorist attacks attributed to the Moharebeh network”. Each was also sentenced to 15 years in prison on charges of “membership in terrorist groups.” The verdicts were formally communicated to their lawyers on Monday, July 7, 2025.
Notably, in this case, Ghasemi, Salehi, and Soltani have each received three death sentences (to be hanged three times). Beigzadeh Babamiri has been sentenced to death twice (to be hanged twice). Salimi Babamiri — who is currently out on bail set at five billion tomans — has received one death sentence. Additionally, Soltani had previously been sentenced to death in a separate case by Branch One of the Juvenile Criminal Court of West Azerbaijan Province.
Additionally, Beigzadeh Babamiri and Ghasemi were sentenced to 15 years and 10 years and one day in prison, respectively, on charges of “complicity in murder.” Salehi was acquitted of all charges in that part of the case.
Meanwhile, trial sessions have also been held for five other Kurdish political defendants from Bukan:Hemin Kermanj; Ahmad Mamzadeh, aged 65; Abubakr Mamzadeh, 53; Jalil Moloudi; and Javanmard Mam-Khosrawi, 50. Hengaw will publish the verdicts in their cases once officially issued.
The arrests occurred in the spring of 2023. Mam-Khosrawi was detained on March 25; Kermanj on April 18; Beigzadeh Babamiri and Moloudi on April 15; and Ahmad Mamzadeh, Abubakr Mamzadeh, Ghasemi, Soltani, and Salehi on April 14. All were transferred to detention centers in Urmia.
Salimi Babamiri was arrested earlier in March 2023 in the city of Baneh by security forces without a court order.
All of these individuals were arrested in connection with the Woman, Life, Freedom movement by security forces of the Islamic Republic. Following their detention, they were subjected to months of enforced disappearance, held incommunicado, severely tortured, and coerced into making self-incriminating confessions under duress.