Abolfazl Mahmoudi Hanged in Isfahan; 3 Executed at Prison That Day

According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, a man was hanged in Isfahan (Dastgerd) Central Prison on 12 February. His identity has been established as Abolfazl Mahmoudi who was arrested four years ago and sentenced to death on drug-related charges by the Revolutionary Court.

IHRNGO previously reported the executions of Mehdi Shehbakhsh Pirsurani and Tayeb Javadi for the same charges, bringing the number of executions at the prison that day to three.

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.”