Execution of Idris Ali, Azad Shojaei, and Rasoul Ahmad Rasoul Carried Out in Urmia Central Prison
On the morning of Wednesday, June 24, 2025, the death sentences of Idris Ali and Azad Shojaei—both from the village of Dowleh Garm in Sardasht—and Rasoul Ahmad Rasoul, a resident of Sulaymaniyah in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, were carried out at Urmia Central Prison. The three Kurdish men had previously been sentenced to death on charges of moharebeh (enmity against God) and efsad-e fel arz (corruption on earth) through alleged collaboration with “hostile foreign governments in favor of Israel.”
State-affiliated media described the executions as “a continuation of the judiciary’s firm actions against agents of Israel.”
The three individuals were arrested in July 2023 by security forces in Sardasht and transferred to the Intelligence Ministry’s detention center in Urmia for interrogation.
During their detention, they were subjected to physical and psychological torture aimed at extracting forced confessions. They were denied contact with their families for over three months and only permitted a single call after this period.
Security authorities accused them of “espionage for Israel” and of “transporting equipment used in the assassination of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh,” a senior Iranian nuclear scientist.
Idris Ali and Azad Shojaei were working as kolbars (cross-border porters) at the Sardasht border. Along with Rasoul Ahmad Rasoul, a cross-border trader from Sulaymaniyah, they consistently denied all charges during the investigation. Reports indicate that confessions were extracted under torture.
After more than eight months in the Intelligence Ministry’s detention center, the three men were transferred to Urmia Central Prison.
Their trial was held on September 23, 2023, in Branch Two of the Revolutionary Court in Urmia. In early November 2023, all three were sentenced to death. During the pretrial investigation, the accused were denied access to legal counsel of their choosing. They were only granted access to appointed lawyers upon transfer of the case to court.
On November 6, 2024, Judiciary spokesperson Asghar Jahangir confirmed during a press briefing—without naming the individuals—that three people connected to the Fakhrizadeh case had been sentenced to death by a Revolutionary Court in Urmia, and their verdicts were under appeal at the time.
Idris Ali, Azad Shojaei, and Rasoul Ahmad Rasoul were all married, with two, three, and three children respectively.
