Documentary statement on the martyrdom of Ahwazi citizen Hassan Qasim Saedi under torture in Iranian regime prisons:

The Ahwazi Human Rights Network is following with great concern the continued grave violations committed by the Iranian regime against Arab citizens in the occupied Ahwaz region,which amounts to crimes against humanity according to the provisions of international humanitarian law and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, especially Article (6), which guarantees the right to life, and Article (7), which prohibits torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.
In this context, the network received reliable information about the killing of Ahwazi citizen Hassan Qasim Saedi, 34 years old, married with two daughters, a resident of the city of Mulla Thani in Ahwaz, the capital. This happened after he was arrested and tortured to death by members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards' intelligence services.
According to reliable testimonies provided by the victim's family and witnesses from the neighborhood, a force affiliated with the Revolutionary Guards Intelligence raided the home of Hassan Saedi at dawn on Tuesday, October 14 (23 Mehr).He was violently arrested, subjected to verbal abuse and physical assault in the presence of his family members. His personal phones and some electronic devices were also confiscated without any legal warrants justifying these measures.
Following his arrest, the victim was taken to an unknown location, and his family was prevented from knowing his whereabouts or communicating with him. Less than 24 hours later, the family received a call from the Intelligence Directorate in Ahwaz, the capital, informing them of the need to come and collect their son, without providing any further explanation.Upon arriving at the scene, they were informed that their son had “died of a heart attack,” a common narrative used by Iranian authorities to cover up deaths resulting from torture in prisons.
Medical and legal evidence, as well as the condition of the body as described by family witnesses, confirm that the victim was subjected to severe torture, electric shocks, and severe beatings, leading to his death in detention within hours of his arrest.

The Ahwazi Human Rights Network asserts that this crime falls within a systematic pattern pursued by the Iranian authorities to target Ahwazi activists, intellectuals, and free-thinkers, with the aim of suppressing any expression of Ahwazi national identity and criminalizing Arab affiliation and authentic Ahwazi culture.
Martyr Hassan Saedi was a well-known figure for his peaceful cultural and media activities. He had previously been arrested for his writings promoting national awareness and defending the civil rights of Ahwazis. According to his family, he did not suffer from any chronic illnesses or health problems that could have led to his sudden death.

What happened constitutes a flagrant violation of Article 5 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states that “No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.” It also represents a clear breach of Iran’s international obligations as a state party to the 1984 Convention against Torture.

Accordingly, the Ahwazi Network for Human Rights:
1. Condemns in the strongest terms the murder under torture of Ahwazi citizen Hassan Qasim Saedi.
2. Calls the United Nations, the Human Rights Council, and the Special Rapporteurs on torture and extrajudicial executions upon to open an urgent and independent international investigation into the circumstances of this crime and to hold those responsible accountable
3. Calls the International and regional human rights organizations for monitoring the conditions of Iranian prisons in Ahwaz and working to expose the Iranian regime's policy of impunity.
4. Urges the international community to take practical steps to ensure the protection of Ahwazi civilians from the campaigns of arbitrary arrest, systematic torture, and secret executions practiced against them by the Iranian authorities.
5. demands that the Iranian authorities immediately disclose all secret detention facilities in Ahvaz province, allow human rights organizations access to them, and guarantee the rights of detainees in accordance with international standards.

The continuation of these violations amid international silence encourages the Iranian regime to continue its crimes against the Arab Ahwazi people. The network affirms that justice is without statute of limitations, and that it will continue to document all these crimes and bring them to the attention of relevant international forums.

Immortality for the martyr Hassan Qasim Saedi
And freedom for all Ahwazi detainees

Issued by:
The Ahwazi Human Rights Network
Ahwaz – October 16, 2025

translated by: Abdolreza Savari