Abolfazl Beig Mohammadi and Javad Haghighat Hanged for Drug Offences in Zanjan

According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, two men were hanged in Zanjan Central Prison on 27 January 2026. Their identities have been established as 40-year-old Abolfazl Beig Mohammadi from Zanjan and Javad Haghighat from Qazvin. They were both sentenced to death on drug-related charges by the Revolutionary Court.

An informed source told IHRNGO: “Abolfazl was arrested around two years ago and Javad was arrested five years ago. The unusual thing about Javad’s case is that, on 30 December, during a hearing into a separate case opened against him behind bars, he was told orally in court that his death sentence would be commuted and that he would most likely receive a 13-year prison term. His execution was carried out despite that assurance.”

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.