HRANA News Agency – The Supreme Court of Iran has rejected the retrial request of Hatem Ozdemir, a political prisoner on death row who is currently held in Urmia Prison.

According to HRANA, the news agency of Human Rights Activists in Iran, on Thursday, March 13, the Supreme Court informed Ozdemir’s defense attorney that his request for a retrial had been denied.

Ozdemir’s death sentence was upheld by the Supreme Court in September 2024.

In late winter 2021, Branch 1 of the Revolutionary Court of Khoy initially sentenced Ozdemir, a Turkish citizen, to death on charges of “armed rebellion” (Baghi). This verdict was delivered to him on March 15 of that year. However, the Supreme Court later overturned the ruling, sending the case back for a retrial in a parallel court.

Following a re-examination of the case and a new hearing, the Revolutionary Court of Urmia, presided over by Judge Najafzadeh, reaffirmed the death sentence in late May, again on charges of “enmity against God.”

Ozdemir was first arrested by security forces in Maku in the early summer of 2019. After two months, he was transferred to the political ward of Urmia Prison. On September 18 of the same year, he was moved to the Ministry of Intelligence’s detention facility in Urmia and, shortly afterward, returned to Urmia Central Prison.