September 29, 2026 — Following her call for a moratorium on the death penalty ahead of World Day Against the Death Penalty (October 10), Mai Sato, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran, addressed the cases of two political prisoners: Mohsen Eslamkhah, a Kurdish youth from Bukan who was arrested at age 16, and Shervin Bagherian Jebelli, a detainee from the January 2026 protests who was arrested just days after turning 18. Highlighting their unfair trials, torture, forced confessions, and arbitrary detention, Sato emphasized that respecting the prohibition on child executions is the bare minimum required of Iran, stressing that the Islamic Republic must halt these executions.

Today, September 29, 2026, Sato published two official communications sent to the Islamic Republic concerning death sentences, torture, arbitrary detentions, and severe human rights violations. The documents cite eight individuals facing the death penalty: Shervin Bagherian Jebelli, Bita Hemmati, Mohammad-Reza Majidi-Asl, Mohsen Eslamkhah, Yousef Ahmadi, Raouf Sheikh-Maroufi, Mohammad Faraji, and Rouhollah Karaki. However, the Islamic Republic has refused to answer most of the key questions raised.

Iran’s response in one of the documents relies entirely on narratives from security agencies, provincial judiciaries, crime scene inspections, and extracted confessions. While claiming the defendants had access to legal counsel and medical examinations, authorities denied all allegations of pressure, torture, or forced confessions.

Nevertheless, the Islamic Republic completely ignored the Special Rapporteurs' core legal queries. The government provided no explanation regarding how individual criminal responsibility was established in group demonstrations, offered no legal basis for broadcasting pre-trial forced confessions, failed to clarify restrictions on the right to freely choose legal counsel during investigations (Note to Article 48), presented no legal arguments aligning the charges with the "most serious crimes" threshold under the ICCPR, and maintained absolute silence regarding the fact that Mohsen Eslamkhah was only 16 years old at the time of the alleged offense.

Under international law, the government's evasion regarding a child offender violates Article 37 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and Article 6 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). Furthermore, based on General Comment No. 36 of the UN Human Rights Committee, imposing capital punishment through unfair trials, denial of chosen legal representation, and torture-tainted confessions constitutes arbitrary deprivation of life—an unlawful state killing. Because the prohibitions against torture, enforced disappearance, and arbitrary deprivation of life are peremptory norms of international law (Jus Cogens), any confession obtained under coercion lacks legal validity and voids the integrity of the judicial proceedings under Article 7 of the ICCPR.

Key Case Details

Mohsen Eslamkhah:
On April 7, 2026, Mohsen Eslamkhah, a 20-year-old Kurdish citizen from Bukan detained during the "Woman, Life, Freedom" movement, was sentenced to death on charges of "Moharebeh" (enmity against God) by Branch 1 of the Revolutionary Court of Mahabad. At the age of 16, due to pressure from security agencies and fear of arrest, Eslamkhah left Iran and resided in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq until 2025. On August 1, 2025, upon returning to Bukan and reporting to the Intelligence Office, he was arrested and subjected to torture for approximately two months at the Urmia Intelligence Detention Center to extract a forced confession regarding the killing of a Basij member. He was subsequently transferred to Bukan Prison and temporarily released on bail. His death sentence was issued on February 17, 2026, and he was rearrested on February 22, 2026, to serve his term in Bukan Prison.

Raouf Sheikh-Maroufi and Mohammad Faraji:
On February 25, 2026, Raouf Sheikh-Maroufi and Mohammad Faraji, two Kurdish citizens from Bukan detained during the "Woman, Life, Freedom" uprising, were sentenced to death by Branch 1 of the Revolutionary Court of Mahabad on charges of "Moharebeh" and "Efsad-fil-Arz" (corruption on Earth). The rulings were officially communicated to them in Bukan Prison on February 24, 2026. Both citizens were denied access to self-chosen legal counsel and were subjected to severe physical and psychological torture at the Urmia Intelligence Detention Center to extract forced confessions. Sheikh-Maroufi was arrested without a judicial warrant on December 26, 2022, and Faraji on February 22, 2023; both were transferred to Bukan Prison on June 10, 2023.

Yousef Ahmadi:
On September 8, 2026, updates emerged regarding Yousef Ahmadi, a Kurdish political prisoner who has been in detention for over six years and under a death sentence for more than three years across two separate cases in Kurdistan Province's Criminal and Revolutionary Courts. Recently, one of his death sentences (issued by the Criminal Court) was converted to 10 years of discretionary imprisonment following the payment of blood money (Diyah). However, his second death sentence on charges of "Bagh-yi" (armed rebellion) has been upheld twice by the Supreme Court, and his defense counsel has submitted a third petition for judicial review (E'adeye Dadrasi).