Iranian Supreme Court rejects retrial request of death-row student Ehsan Faridi

Hengaw – Thursday, October 23, 2025

The Supreme Court of the Islamic Republic of Iran has rejected the retrial request of Ehsan Faridi, a 22-year-old Turkish student and political prisoner held in Tabriz Central Prison, raising serious concerns over the imminent risk of his execution.

According to information received by the Hengaw Organization for Human Rights, Faridi’s request for retrial was rejected by Branch 29 of the Supreme Court.

His lawyer, Mahmoud Behzadirad, stated that the court appeared to have dismissed the request without proper review, noting that “it seems the retrial petition was not even read and was rejected in less than an hour.”

Behzadirad added, “Ehsan filed his retrial request on Tuesday, October 14, it reached the branch on Wednesday, October 15, and by 12:50 p.m., it had already been denied.”

The lawyer criticized the judicial process, highlighting that while a criminal court (Branch 108) sentenced Faridi to 18 months in prison over a Molotov cocktail case, the Revolutionary Court reclassified the same case as “corruption on earth (efsad fel-arz)” and issued a death sentence.

The initial death sentence was handed down by Branch 3 of the Tabriz Revolutionary Court, presided over by Judge Hassan Fathipour.

Ehsan Faridi, an industrial engineering student at the University of Tabriz, was first arrested in March 2024 and released on bail nine days later. He was later sentenced to prison on charges of “propaganda against the state.”

On June 18, 2024, Faridi was summoned again by Branch 15 of the Tabriz Public and Revolutionary Prosecutor’s Office, re-arrested, and transferred to Tabriz Central Prison, where he remains in detention.