Urgent Petition to Halt the Execution of Ehsan Khodadadi, an Azerbaijani Turk Citizen
335
Signatures
500
Goal
Friday, July 3, 2026
We, the undersigned, call on human rights organizations, United Nations Special Rapporteurs, human rights lawyers, independent media, and all people of conscience to take urgent action to halt the execution of Ehsan Khodadadi and to ensure that he is granted a fair and independent trial.
The Revolutionary Court of Tabriz, presided over by Judge Reza Abdi, has sentenced Ehsan Khodadadi to death on charges of “espionage for Israel” and “corruption on earth.” Yet no independent evidence or detailed documentation supporting these charges has been made public, and serious concerns have been raised about the judicial process in this case.
Ehsan Khodadadi, an Azerbaijani Turk citizen, was born in 1994 and is from the village of Yuzbash Kandi in Malekan County. He was arrested on June 7, 2025. He spent three months in solitary confinement and several additional months under interrogation in security detention facilities. During this period, he was denied contact with his family, effective access to a lawyer, and the basic rights of a defendant. Human rights sources have also reported that Mr. Khodadadi was subjected to severe physical and psychological torture, and that forced confessions were extracted from him and used as the primary basis for his death sentence. According to testimony from his former cellmates, visible signs of abuse included bruises on his body and fingernails, cigarette burns on his skin, teeth damaged by beatings, and a kidney infection.
What is at stake today is not only the life of one human being, but the principle of justice, the right to a fair trial, and the dignity of every person. No sentence, especially one that takes a human life, should ever be based on confessions obtained through pressure, torture, or the denial of legal rights.
Before his arrest, Ehsan Khodadadi was an ordinary citizen from the Malekan region. He grew up in a middle-class family, completed his military service, and was forced to leave his studies and begin working to support himself and care for his ill mother. After his arrest, his mother suffered a stroke and has not yet recovered. For months, Ehsan’s family has lived under uncertainty, fear, and security pressure. They now face the possibility of losing their loved one.
We call for:
- The immediate halt of Ehsan Khodadadi’s execution.
- The annulment of any sentence based on confessions obtained under torture, coercion, or pressure.
- An independent and impartial investigation into allegations of torture, mistreatment, and violations of the defendant’s rights.
- Full and unrestricted access to a lawyer of his choosing and to his family.
- A retrial in accordance with fair trial standards, with the opportunity for all evidence and documentation to be independently examined.
- International human rights monitoring of the legal proceedings in this case.
The right to life is the most fundamental human right. Carrying out a death sentence in a case marked by such serious ambiguities and concerns about due process would not only take a human life, it would further undermine trust in justice.
Today, we call on all human rights organizations, media outlets, academics, civil society activists, independent lawyers, and freedom-loving people to be the voice of Ehsan Khodadadi and to act to prevent this execution.
A human life must not be sacrificed to forced confessions, torture, and an unfair trial.
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Recent events
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See where all the votes are coming from
Province Number of signatures Alborz 5 Ardabil 8 Bushehr 0 Chahar Mahaal and Bakhtiari 3 East Azerbaijan 119 Fars 6 Gilan 1 Golestan 2 Hamadan 2 Hormozgan 2 Ilam 0 Isfahan 6 Kerman 3 Kermanshah 1 Khuzestan 1 Kohgiluyehv And Boyer Ahmad 0 Kurdistan 1 Lorestan 0 Markazi 0 Mazandaran 4 North Khorasan 0 Qazvin 0 Qom 0 Razavi Khorasan 5 Semnan 0 Sistan and Baluchestan 0 South Khorasan 0 Tehran 17 West Azerbaijan 21 Yazd 2 Zanjan 2 This petition has received 335 signatures so far. Approximately 94% of signatures come from Iran. Approximately 6% of signatures come from outside of Iran. Learn how Daadkhast generates signature maps. -
Latest signatures
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احسان خدادادی مرتکب هیچ جرمی نشده که مستوجب اعدام باشد.
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احسان خدادادی مرتکب هیچ جرمی نشده که مستوجب اعدام باشد.
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Signed via Telegram -
احسان خدادادی مرتکب هیچ جرمی نشده که مستوجب اعدام باشد.
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An anti-death penalty activist started this petition
احسان خدادادی مرتکب هیچ جرمی نشده که مستوجب اعدام باشد.