UN urges Iran to halt executions, calls for moratorium in case of Kurdish prisoner
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The United Nations on Wednesday urged Iran to implement a “moratorium” on executions, including in the case of political prisoner Naser Bakrzadeh. The remarks came after a voice message attributed to the 26-year-old surfaced, in which he denied espionage charges against him, saying his main crime is “being Kurdish.”
Stephane Dujarric, spokesperson for the UN secretary-general, told Rudaw’s Namo Abdulla that the UN chief “has been very clear - he is against the death penalty, with no exceptions and under all circumstances.”
“We want to see a moratorium, and we want those sentenced to death not to be executed,” Dujarric added.
Bakrzadeh is currently held in Urmia Central Prison in West Azerbaijan province, in Iran’s Kurdish-majority western regions (Rojhelat).
The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) on Monday warned that Bakrzadeh is at imminent risk of execution following the final confirmation of his death sentence. The agency said he was convicted of “espionage for Israel and cooperation with [Tel Aviv’s intelligence service] the Mossad.”
HRANA added that Bakrzadeh was subjected to physical and psychological torture by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to extract forced confessions. He was reportedly denied access to a lawyer and prevented from contacting or meeting his family. The watchdog also warned of an “accelerated” execution process.
In a voice note that surfaced online on Tuesday and was heard by Rudaw, Bakrzadeh said, “This may well be the last time you hear my voice,” adding that the death sentence against him “has been confirmed and I will be hanged.”
“Please don’t allow my execution to take place,” he pleaded, urging “religious leaders” and “human rights organizations” to intervene.
“My first crime is that I am Kurdish; my second is that I am Sunni. I am not the first one to be executed, and I won’t be the last,” he said.
Earlier on Wednesday, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said, “I am appalled that the rights of the Iranian people continue to be stripped from them by the authorities in harsh and brutal ways.”
Volker Turk further stressed that “core, non-derogable rights - such as protection against arbitrary detention and the right to a fair trial - must be respected absolutely at all times,” urging Iranian authorities to “halt all further executions, establish a moratorium on the use of capital punishment, fully ensure due process and fair trial guarantees, and immediately release those arbitrarily detained.”
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said on the same day that since the outbreak of the Iran war in late February, Iranian authorities have executed “at least nine people in connection with the January 2026 protests, ten for alleged membership in opposition groups, and two on espionage charges.”
It added that “individuals from ethnic and religious minorities, including Baha’is, Zoroastrians, Kurds, and Baluch Iranians, have been at particular risk” of execution.
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