Security-driven case fabrication in the case of death-row political prisoner Yousef Ahmadi in Sanandaj Central Prison

Hengaw — Sunday, December 14, 2025

Yousef Ahmadi, a Kurdish political prisoner sentenced to death and held at Sanandaj Central Prison, has spent more than five and a half years in detention and remains deprived of basic legal rights, including prison leave and adequate medical care.

According to information obtained by the Hengaw Organization for Human Rights, Ahmadi, 40, from Baneh, has been detained for 2,057 days, held intermittently between the Sanandaj Intelligence Department’s detention facility and Sanandaj Central Prison. His death sentence was issued following deeply flawed judicial process that relied on confessions extracted under torture.

Death sentence upheld
In September 2023, Branch One of the Sanandaj Revolutionary Court, presided over by Judge Saeedi, sentenced Ahmadi to death on charges of “baghi (armed rebellion) through membership in the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (PDKI)." The ruling was fully upheld by Branch 39 of Iran’s Supreme Court in the winter of 2024.

The conviction was based primarily on confessions obtained under severe physical and psychological pressure, in violation of fair trial standards.

Torture and denial of medical care

Sources familiar with the case said Ahmadi was subjected to severe torture during interrogation, including repeated beatings with electric cables that caused spinal injuries and loss of consciousness. Security agents threatened to harm his family to force him to confess.

Ahmadi was injured at the time of his arrest, and had a pre-existing arm fracture, but was denied proper medical treatment while held in intelligence detention. He also suffers from epilepsy and had previously been under neurological care, which was withheld throughout his detention and interrogation.

Co-defendants and related sentences

Hengaw’s investigations indicate that the handling of the case of Yousef Ahmadi and his co-defendants has been accompanied by a broad pattern of security-driven case fabrication.
Three other defendants linked to the same case were convicted of “aiding and abetting baghi” and collectively sentenced to 65 years in prison:
    •    Mohammad Karimi – 25 years
    •    Baset Karimi – 20 years
    •    Mohammad Feyzi – 20 years

Their sentences were formally communicated on September 3, 2023.

Hengaw reports that all confessions in the case were obtained under coercion and that the defendants were denied access to legal counsel during interrogation and trial proceedings.

Arrest and detention
Yousef Ahmadi was arrested on April 26, 2020, while the three co-defendants were arrested one day earlier during raids carried out by security forces. All were initially held at the Sanandaj Intelligence Department’s detention center before being transferred to Sanandaj Central Prison.

The case reflects systematic violations of due process, including reliance on coerced confessions and security reports, and warn that Ahmadi’s execution would constitute a serious breach of international human rights standards.