Death-row prisoner Yaqub Sabzi dies by suicide in Ghezel Hesar prison

Hengaw – Thursday, September 11, 2025

Iranian authorities have reported the death of Yaqub Sabzi, a 26-year-old prisoner on death row in Ghezel Hesar Prison, Karaj, who died after swallowing narcotics inside the facility. His transfer to a medical center was delayed. Over the past nine months, at least 15 Kurdish prisoners have died in Iranian prisons.

According to information obtained by Hengaw Organization for Human Rights, Sabzi, a native of Kuhdasht in Lorestan Province, attempted suicide on the evening of Wednesday, September 10, 2025, in Ward 17, Unit 2 of Ghezel Hesar Prison. He later died.

Sources said that despite his critical condition, Sabzi was kept for several hours in the prison infirmary and died early Thursday morning while being transferred to a hospital.

Sabzi had been arrested seven years ago, when he was only 19, on drug-related charges and was subsequently sentenced to death.

Statistics from Hengaw Organization for Human Rights’ Statistics and Documentation Center indicate that since the beginning of 2025 at least 35 prisoners have died in Iranian prisons for various reasons. Fifteen of these deaths, representing 43 percent, involved Kurdish prisoners.