Hengaw report – Kurdish religious scholar Mamosta Masoud Nazari assassinated in Turkey

Hengaw – Wednesday, October 15, 2025

Mamosta Masoud Nazari, a Kurdish religious scholar and activist from Javanrud, was assassinated by unidentified assailants in Istanbul, Turkey. He had been living in exile for several years after being forced to flee his hometown due to ongoing pressure from Iranian security agencies.

According to information obtained by Hengaw Organization for Human Rights, Mamosta Nazari was shot dead by unknown attackers in front of his home in the Arnavutköy district of Istanbul on the evening of Tuesday, October 14, 2025. He was struck by multiple bullets and died at the scene.

Sources familiar with the case reported that Nazari was targeted at around 8 p.m. as he was returning home. The attackers opened fire at the entrance of his residence and fled immediately after the assault.

Family members and close associates of Nazari have held the Islamic Republic of Iran responsible for the assassination, noting that he had repeatedly received threats from Iranian intelligence agencies.

Nazari left Iran roughly ten years ago due to his critical stance toward the Islamic Republic and had since been living in Turkey.

The assassination of Mamosta Masoud Nazari constitutes another instance of the Islamic Republic’s transnational repression campaign targeting political and religious dissidents abroad. Iranian authorities have long been accused of orchestrating and executing assassinations of opposition figures in various countries, including Turkey and the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, as part of a broader policy of silencing and eliminating critics beyond Iran’s borders.

According to data compiled by Hengaw Organization for Human Rights, over the past three decades, the Islamic Republic of Iran has assassinated more than 500 Kurdish political and religious activists in Turkey and the Kurdistan Region.