Mostafa Hemati and Abbas Sharifi Hanged for Drug Offences in Sari

According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, two men were hanged in Sari Central Prison on 13 January 2026. Their identitites have been established as 47-year-old Mostafa Hemati from Langroud and Abbas Sharifi, a 42-year-old greengrocer from Sari. They were both sentenced to death on drug-related charges by the Revolutionary Court.

An informed source told IHRNGO: “Mostafa was arrested around three years ago for carrying 35 kilogram of drugs and Abbas was arrested around two years ago.

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 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 697 people were executed for drug-related offences in the first eleven months of 2025.

In December 2025, IHRNGO published a report titled “A Village of Graves: Widespread and Systematic Drug Executions in Iran,” which provides an overview of drug laws and documents the systematic violation of due process and fair trial rights in drug cases.