Group Hanging of 7 Including Woman in Yazd

According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, six men and a woman were hanged in Yazd Central Prison on 4 November 2025. Of the seven executions, five were sentenced to death on drug-related charges. Two of them have been identified as Kobra Rezayi and Rasoul Karimi who was arrested two years ago.

The two other men were sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) for murder. One of them has been identified as Farzad Hosseini, arrested around four years ago.

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

Kobra Rezayi is the 38th woman execution recorded in 2025 and the 12th to be hanged for drug-related offences. Iran executes the highest number of women globally. In 2024, at least 31 women were executed for drug-related, murder and security-related charges in Iran, the highest number of recorded women executions in more than 15 years.

In January 2025, IHRNGO published a report titled “Women and the Death Penalty in Iran; a Gendered Perspective,” which sheds light on the contemporary experiences of women facing the death penalty, focusing on the discriminatory laws and societal factors that perpetuate their suffering. 

Drug-related executions have continuously risen every year since 2021. According to IHRNGO’s 2024 Annual Report on the Death Penalty, at least 503 people were executed for drug-related charges, of which only under 3% were announced by official sources. 17% of all drug-related executions in 2024 were Baluch minorities while they represent 2-6% of Iran’s population. At least 517 people were executed for drug-related offences in the first nine months of 2025.