4 Men Including Afghan National Executed in Isfahan

According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, four men were executed in Isfahan (Dastgerd) Central Prison on 28 August. Three of the men who were death row for drug-related charges have been identified as 43-year-old Asad Khosravi, 34-year-old Milad Ali Mohammadi and 25-year-old Emad Motevalian.  

The fourth prisoner was an Afghan national named Rafi Abdolbari, around 30, who was sentenced to qisas(retribution-in-kind) for murder.

An informed source told IHRNGO: “Asad Khosravi was from Khomeini Shahr in Isfahan and arrested around three years ago. Milad and Emad were from Rozveh and arrested in a joint case five years ago.”

“Rafi was from Afghanistan and had been arrested for murder three years ago. He told his cellmates that he innocent, he had tried to break up a group fight where a man was killed. The killer wasn’t determined and they made him take the blame,” the source added.

At the time of writing, their executions have not been reported by domestic media or officials in Iran.

Drug-related executions have continuously risen every year since 2021. According to IHRNGO’s 2023 Annual Report on the Death Penalty, at least 471 people were executed for drug-related charges, an 84% increase compared to 2022 (256) and about 18 times the average of drug-related executions in 2018-2020. In the first six months of 2024, at least 147 people were executed for the charges.