2 More Executions Recorded in Ghezelhesar Prison; 10 Executed That Day

According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, two men were executed in Ghezelhesar Prison in Karaj on 2nd October. Seven men and a woman were previously reported to have been executed at the prison that day.

The identities of the two men have been established as Hamzeh Shahbazi who was on death row for drug-related offences and Moloud Khaldedian (photo) who was sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) for murder.

Furthermore, newly obtained information reveals that Fazlollah Pournasiri who was previously reported to have been executed for murder charges, was also executed for drug offences.

At the time of writing, only six of the ten executions have 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.”