Mina Sadoughi and Farokh Pourfarzi Secretly Hanged for Drug Offences

According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, a woman and man were hanged in Shiraz (Adel Abad) Central Prison on 26 November 2025. Their identities have been established as 41-year-old Mina Sadoughi and 50-year-old Farokh Pourfarzi, a couple from Mohammad Shahr in Karaj. They were parents to a 7, 9 and 11 year old.

They were arrested for carrying 65 kilograms of illegal substances around 19 months ago and sentenced to death on drug-related charges by the Revolutionary Court. The couple’s execution was carried out without prior notification, depriving them of last family visits.

IHRNGO previously reported the executions of five men, bringing the total number of executions to seven at the prison that day.

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

Mina Sadoughi is the 41st woman execution recorded in 2025 and the 14th 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 612 people were executed for drug-related offences in the first ten months of 2025.