Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); October 1, 2024: According to newly obtained information, Hossein Maghami, Reza Mohammadi and Amin Shahabi were executed for drug-related offences in Shiraz Central Prison on 15 September. Two other men were reported to have been executed at the prison that day.
According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, three men were executed in Shiraz Central Prison on 15 September. Their identities have been established as 29-year-old Hossein Maghami, Reza Mohammad, around 40 years old and 33-year-old Amin Shahabi. They were sentenced to death for drug-related offences by the Revolutionary Court.
An informed source told IHRNGO: “Hossein Maghami was from Ahvaz and had been arrested for drug charges four years ago. Reza Mohammadi was from Shirvan and was arrested three years ago. Amin Shahabi was from Jahrom was arrested four years ago. They were transferred from Shiraz’s Pirabu Prison which houses drug defendants to Adel Abad Prison for execution.
IHRNGO previously reported the executions of two Baluch men for drug-related charges which bring the number of executions at the prison to five that day.
At the time of writing, none of their executions have 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.”