Group Hanging of 6 Men for Drug Charges in Isfahan

According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, five men were hanged in Isfahan (Dastgerd) Central Prison on 17 February 2025. Their identities have been established as 38-year-old Mohammad Shamseddin Arbab, 32-year-old Borhan Vasimollah, an Afghan national, 40-year-old Heidar (Rostam) Babayi, 40-year-old Ali Eshaghi and 34-year-old Majid Baluch, a Baluch minority. They were all sentenced to death on drug-related charges by the Revolutionary Court.

An informed source told IHRNGO: “Mohammad Shamseddin was from the village of Charmahin in Isfahan and arrested around four years ago. Borhan was from Feiz Abad in Afghanistan and on death row for three years.”

“Heidar was from Doroud and had been arrested three years ago. Ali was from Lenjan and Majid was from Kerman, they were both arrested four years ago.”

IHRNGO previously reported the execution of Ezat Hosseini Douraki for the same charges, bringing the total number of executions at the prison to six that day.

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.”