Call for Urgent Action to Save Political Prisoners on Death Row
The Iranian regime’s judiciary has sentenced political prisoner Yaghoub Derakhshan, a supporter of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) currently held in Lakan Prison in Rasht, to death for the second time. This criminal verdict was issued and communicated by the Second Branch of the regime’s Revolutionary Court in Rasht, presided over by the henchman Mohammad Ali Darvish-Goftar, following an online show trial conducted without the presence of a lawyer. Consequently, Mr. Derakhshan is in imminent danger of execution.
Yaghoub Derakhshan, 51, was arrested in April 2025 and sentenced to death in August 2025 on charges of ‘Baghi’ (armed rebellion) by the First Branch of the Revolutionary Court in Rasht, presided over by Ahmad Darvish-Goftar. That trial was also conducted via video conference. In November 2025, in a theatrical move, the regime’s Supreme Court referred the case for retrial to the Second Branch of the Revolutionary Court in Rasht, presided over by Mohammad Ali Darvish-Goftar (the son of Ahmad Darvish-Goftar).
The Iranian Resistance calls on the United Nations Human Rights Council, the High Commissioner for Human Rights, other relevant UN bodies, and all human rights organizations to take immediate action to secure the release of political prisoners and save the lives of those on death row, particularly Yaghoub Derakhshan.
Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI)
5 June 2026