Suspicious Death of a Kurdish Political Prisoner in Urmia Central Prison

Hengaw: Monday, February 26, 2024

Shahin Galadari, a 50-year-old Kurdish political prisoner from Urmia, lost his life under suspicious circumstances in Urmia Central Prison. Prison officials have announced that his death was ruled as suicide.

According to reports received by the Hengaw Organization for Human Rights, Shahin Galadari, a resident of the village of Haki in the Targavar region of Urmia, was serving a two-year sentence and suspiciously died on the evening of Sunday, February 25, 2024, in Urmia Central Prison.

A reliable source indicates that prison authorities in Urmia informed inmates and Galadari’s family that the victim had taken his own life. His body has been transferred to the forensics department in Urmia for examination.

Hengaw has been informed that Shahin Galadari was recently transferred to the special office of the intelligence department located in Urmia prison, as well as to the detention center of the intelligence department, where he was subjected to physical and mental torture by the interrogators. Additionally, his mustache was forcibly shaved.

Shahin Galadari was initially arrested on February 28th, 2019 without a judicial warrant during a raid by Urmia Intelligence forces. He was temporarily released on bail while awaiting legal proceedings. Later, he was sentenced to two years of imprisonment by the Urmia Revolutionary Court in February 2021 on charges of “acts against national security.”

It is worth noting that Shahin Galadari was detained in February 2021 to serve his two-year sentence and was transferred to Urmia Central Prison.

According to statistics recorded at the Statistics and Documents Center of the Hengaw Organization for Human Rights, in 2023, at least 35 prisoners died in Iranian prisons, with approximately 60% of them being Kurdish detainees. Among those Kurdish prisoners, at least 12 died in the prisons of Urmia (West Azarbaijan)  province.