Vahid Omari dies due to denial of medical care in Salmas Prison

Hengaw – Sunday, December 21, 2025

Vahid Omari, a prisoner serving a sentence on financial charges in Salmas Prison, has died after being denied timely access to adequate medical treatment. He is the second Kurdish prisoner in less than a week to die in Iranian prisons as a result of medical negligence.

According to information received by the Hengaw Organization for Human Rights, Omari, a resident of Khurkhura village in Salmas, suffered a heart attack inside Salmas Central Prison on Thursday, December 18, 2025. Due to delayed medical attention and his late transfer to hospital, he died shortly thereafter.

Omari’s family has refused to receive his body and plans to file a complaint against prison authorities for denying him medical care.

Just days earlier, on Sunday, December 14, 2025, Abdolhadi Sheikheh-Pour, a prisoner from Sardasht and father of two, also died due to lack of medical treatment in Mahabad Central Prison while serving a three-year sentence. Despite being unable to move from his bed for two days prior to his death, he was still denied proper medical assistance.