Iran Human Rights (IHNRGO); February 9, 2025: Abdolhamid Kouhkan, an Afghan national, and Golmohammad Gorgij, a Baluch minority, were executed for drug-related offences in Gorgan Central Prison.
According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, two men were executed in Gorgan Central Prison on 5 January 2025. Their identities have been established as Abdolhamid Kouhkan, a 26-year-old Afghan national and Golmohammad Gorgij, a 34-year-old Baluch man. They were sentenced to death for drug-related charges in separate cases.
An informed source told IHRNGO: “Abdolhamid Kouhkan was arrested three and a half years ago. Golmohammad Gorgij was arrested five years ago and sentenced to 20 years in prison for drug charges which was later changed to the death penalty for unknown reasons.”
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.
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.