Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); January 22, 2025: Bahram Valipour and Hossein Farhadi, two men on death row for drug-related offences, were executed in Gorgan Central Prison.
According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, two men were hanged in Gorgan Central Prison on 19 January 2025. Their identities have been established as 38-year-old Bahram Valipour and 35-year-old Hossein Farhadi (photo), a married father of one from Gorgan. They were sentenced to death on drug-related charges by the Revolutionary Court.
An informed source told IHRNGO: “Bahram was arrested two years ago. Hossein Farhadi was an orchard caretaker prior to arrest. He was arrested four 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 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.”