Hamed Validi and Nima Shahi, who have been sentenced to death on charges of membership in the PMOI, have been transferred to an unknown location
On the afternoon of Sunday, April 19, death-row political prisoners Hamed Validi and Nima Shahi were hastily transferred from Karaj Central Prison to an unknown location. They were sentenced to death in October 2025 by the regime’s judiciary on charges of membership in the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK).
Hamed Validi, a 45-year-old civil engineer, and Nima Shahi, a 38-year-old technical worker, were arrested in Tehran on May 13, 2025, along with their relatives, and subjected to interrogation and torture.
The Chief Justice of the regime’s judiciary in Alborz province absurdly accused them and two other political prisoners of espionage in connection with the 12-day war on September 27, 2025. This was despite the fact that they had been arrested a month prior to the conflict, and the PMOI had already submitted their names and particulars to the United Nations and human rights organizations. News of their arrest had also been broadcast on Simay-e Azadi (INTV) on September 7, 2025. In a statement on September 27, 2025, the Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) called for an investigation into their case by the International Fact-Finding Mission.
Given the imminent risk of execution facing these two political prisoners, and with only hours remaining before the dawn of Monday, April 20, the Iranian Resistance urgently calls on the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, the UN Human Rights Council, the UN Special Rapporteur on Iran, the International Fact-Finding Mission, and all human rights authorities to take immediate action to save the lives of Hamed Validi and Nima Shahi.
Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI)
19 April 2026