Iran Secretly Executes Two Kurdish Political Prisoners in Naqadeh

Ramin Zaleh and Karim Maroufpour, two Kurdish political prisoners sentenced to death on charges of "armed insurrection", were secretly executed at Naqadeh prison in the early hours of 21 May. Their families and lawyers were given no prior notice.

The Kurdistan Human Rights Network learned that the two men were denied a final visit with their families, and that as of publication their bodies had not been returned to their relatives.

A former cellmate said the men were arrested by IRGC Intelligence in the summer of 2024 and held at a security detention centre in Orumiyeh, where they were subjected to physical and psychological torture for several months in order to extract forced confessions.

They were tried in December 2025 at the Islamic Revolutionary Court in Mahabad over membership of the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan, while a third man, Khedr Mohammadpour, received a 20-year prison sentence. (Kurdistan Human Rights Network)