Hana Human Rights Organization reports that the Second Criminal Court of Sulaymaniyah Province in Iraqi Kurdistan has sentenced “Sarkawt (Ali) Ahmadi,” an Iranian national affiliated with the security agencies of the Islamic Republic of Iran, to death in ruling No. 1535 dated May 18, 2025. The sentence was issued for the assassination of Shoaib Zarei, a Kurdish political activist and active member of the Komala Party of Iranian Kurdistan.
It is worth noting that Shoaib Zarei was assassinated on March 16, 2024, in the village of Zargwez, located in Sulaymaniyah Province. According to Komala’s official statement, the assassination was carried out by Sarkawt Ahmadi, an Iranian citizen, using a handgun.
Based on Hana Human Rights Organization’s investigation, after shooting Zarei from behind — someone he had previously known — Sarkawt Ahmadi fled the scene and made his way toward the border between Sulaymaniyah and Iran. Security forces (Asayish) stationed at the border grew suspicious and arrested him as he attempted to cross swiftly into Iran. Upon being handed over to the judicial authorities of Iraqi Kurdistan, Ahmadi confessed before the investigating judge to committing a political assassination.
The preliminary investigation was completed with Ahmadi’s explicit confessions, witness testimonies, and the presence of Komala Party representatives. During the proceedings, the defendant admitted to his links with Iranian security agencies and stated that his motivation for the assassination was based on the directives of those agencies. The case was ultimately referred to the Second Criminal Court of Sulaymaniyah for trial.
The panel of judges at the Criminal Court of Sulaymaniyah, by majority vote, found Sarkawt Ahmadi guilty. They ruled that the act of killing fell outside the legal definition of murder under the Iraqi Penal Code, which is applicable in Iraqi Kurdistan. The judges, relying on the available evidence and the defendant’s confessions, determined that the crime was politically motivated and fell under the definition of terrorism as outlined in Paragraph 2 of Article 2 of Law No. 3 on Combating Terrorism, passed in 2006 by the Kurdistan Parliament. Consequently, after hearing the final statements from the defendant and his attorney, the court sentenced Ahmadi to death under Article 2 of the Anti-Terrorism Law.
The issued verdict has been referred to the Kurdistan Region’s Supreme Court in Erbil (Hewler) for confirmation.
Hana Human Rights Organization affirms that since the establishment of Kurdish opposition party camps in Iraqi Kurdistan in the early 1990s, the Islamic Republic of Iran has systematically and deliberately targeted Kurdish political activists for assassination. To date, hundreds of political activists and members of Kurdish opposition parties have been assassinated by operatives of the Iranian regime.
While Hana firmly opposes the use of the death penalty under any circumstances, it welcomes the independent and transparent judicial handling of this assassination case and calls for the replacement of the death sentence with life imprisonment. Hana will soon publish a detailed report on the case.