Iran secretly executes two young Iraqi nationals on alleged espionage charges
Hengaw – Wednesday, May 20, 2026
Iranian authorities secretly executed two Iraqi nationals, Ali Nader al-Obeidi and Fazel Sheikh Karim, in Karaj Central Prison during the final days of the 40-day war involving Iran, Israel, and the United States. The two men had previously been sentenced to death in a joint case on charges of allegedly spying for one of the Arab countries in the region.
According to a report received by Hengaw Organization for Human Rights, the executions were carried out in the early hours of Monday, April 6, 2026. The two men, both Arab residents of the Iraqi city of Amarah, were identified as 27-year-old Ali Nader al-Obeidi and 29-year-old Fazel Sheikh Karim.
Informed sources stated that the two Iraqi nationals were arrested last year in Karaj by Intelligence Department forces and later sentenced to death on espionage charges by a branch of the Revolutionary Court of the Islamic Republic of Iran. According to the same sources, the two prisoners were subjected to torture during 11 months of detention in facilities operated by the Intelligence Department and the Intelligence Organization of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). They were transferred to Karaj Central Prison shortly before their executions.
Iranian state media, judicial authorities, and Iraqi officials have not publicly announced the executions of Ali Nader al-Obeidi and Fazel Sheikh Karim.
The issuance and implementation of death sentences against foreign nationals in Iran — particularly under vague national security charges such as espionage and in the absence of the most basic fair trial standards — constitute a clear violation of international law and the fundamental rights of defendants.
Hengaw Organization for Human Rights condemned the executions of the two Iraqi nationals as part of the escalating machinery of systematic executions and state violence in Iran, and called for a clear diplomatic response from international bodies regarding the arbitrary deprivation of the right to life.
