ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The death sentence of Kurdish prisoner Hamid Hoseinnezhad Heidaranlou has been carried out by Iranian authorities after he was accused of membership in an outlawed Kurdish political party and involvement in the killing of eight border guards, despite footage allegedly showing his innocence.
“After going through the legal process, he [Heidaranlou] was sentenced to death on charges of participating in assassination and murder, and finally, through the demands and pursuit of the families of the martyrs of the border guard, he was punished for his crime,” semi-official Fars News Agency reported late Monday, adding that the family was informed of the execution.
Heidaranlou, 40, from the village of Segrik in Chaldoran, was convicted of “baghi” (Persian word for “armed rebellion”) in connection with his alleged membership in the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), according to the Oslo-based Hengaw Human Rights Organization.
The PKK is not directly active in Iran, but its offshoot, Free Life Party of Kurdistan (PJAK), has carried out attacks against Tehran and is banned in Iran.
Fars News Agency did not say when the execution was carried out but Hengaw reported that Heidaranlou was executed early Sunday.
“The execution took place just days after he handed over documents to his family during a visit, which he claimed proved both his innocence and the violations of his legal rights during trial proceedings,” Henagw added.
“There will be no funeral, and you are not allowed to hold any ceremonies,” Hengaw cited Urmia Deputy Prosecutor Behzad Sorkhanlou as telling the family.
Fars News Agency on Saturday aired a documentary entitled “Hamid Hoseinnezhad Confession,” featuring his alleged involvement in the killing of eight border guards in Chaldoran in a clash they had with PJAK in 2017. Chaldoran county is located on the Iranian border with Turkey.
The documentary claimed that Heidaranlou was ”affiliated with one of the terrorist groups in the west side of the country” and involved in “smuggling a terrorist team into the country” on November 3, 2017.
These types of confession are widely believed to be coerced, often obtained under threats, psychological pressure, and, in some cases, physical torture.
The accusations were made despite evidence purportedly showing that Heidaranlou was outside the country with his family at the time of the incident, according to a photo of an exit stamp on his passport obtained by Hengaw.
Rudaw English could not independently verify the authenticity of the photo.
In a video published by Hengaw, Heidaranlou’s 15-year-old daughter, Ronahi Heidaranlou, urged everyone to save her father's life and claimed that authorities interrogated her under the pretense of arranging a meeting with her father.
During the questioning, and in the presence of state-affiliated media cameras, she said she was asked and threatened to state that her father had abandoned the family during the trip in 2017, a request she said she refused.
She further stated that her father was tortured and forced to confess, denying the claims presented in the state-produced documentary.
“Under severe torture, he was coerced into confessing to participation in an armed attack against Iran’s border guards and the killing of at least eight of them,” Hengaw added.
She emphasized that they were traveling at the time of the incident, and her father was innocent.
Heidaranlou was arrested on April 13, 2023, near the Chaldoran border by government border forces, nearly six years after the death of the Iranian border guards.
“He was subjected to severe physical and psychological torture in order to force him to confess to participating in the armed conflict between the Kurdistan Workers' Party and the border guards of the Islamic Republic of Iran, which resulted in the deaths of eight border guards,” the Paris-based Kurdistan Human Rights Network reported, citing a “reliable source.”
Iran executed an estimated 909 people in 2024, with Kurds making up 20 percent of the total number, according to Hengaw. Human rights organizations have criticized Tehran’s use of the death penalty, especially for minority groups and people who protest against the Iranian government.
