Urmia

Hengaw reported in late April 2026 that three death-row political prisoners had been removed from Urmia Prison, raising concern about imminent executions. The removals occurred in the same week that Iran Human Rights documented a rate of approximately one political execution every two days across the country . Iran's internet blackout, still at approximately 2% of normal connectivity, means family notifications and Hengaw field contacts are the primary early-warning system for executions in the north-west.

Urmia is the provincial capital of West Azerbaijan in north-western Iran, with a population of approximately one million. The city has a predominantly Azerbaijani-Turkic and Kurdish demographic composition. Urmia Prison has historically held a disproportionately high share of political prisoners from ethnic minority communities, including Kurdish activists convicted under national-security charges and Azerbaijani civil-society figures. The facility gained sustained international attention during the 2009-2012 period when Kurdish political prisoners staged repeated hunger strikes.

The combination of ethnic-minority demographics, geographic isolation, and the wartime information blackout makes Urmia a particular focus for international human rights monitoring during the 2026 conflict. The three prisoners removed in late April 2026 add to a pattern: Hengaw had already documented executions of ethnic-minority political prisoners at Urmia during the wartime period, including cases where the execution occurred within 24 hours of the prisoner's removal from the general population .