Saeed Alimardani and Mohammad Ghasaban Executed in Qazvin

According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, two men were executed in Qazvin (Choobindar) Prison on 23 September. Their identities have been established as 45-year-old Saeed Alimardani from Tabriz (photo) and 40-year-old Mohammad Ghasaban from Qazvin.

Saeed and Mohammad were arrested at a checkpoint on the Qazvin-Tehran motorway for carrying 150kg of heroin and shisheh (methamphetamine) almost two and a half years ago. They were sentenced to death by the Revolutionary Court.

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.

On 10 April 2024, 80+ Iranian and international organisations and groups called for joint action to stop drug-related executions, urging UNODC to make “any cooperation with the Islamic Republic contingent on a complete halt on drug-related executions.”