Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); February 21, 2025: At least eight men including two Afghan nationals and a Baluch minority were executed for drug-related, rape, security-related and murder charges in Ghezelhesar Prison.
According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, at least six men including two Afghan nationals were hanged in Karaj’s Ghezelhesar Prison on 19th February 2025. Of the six, a man only identified as Reza was on death row for drug-related offences. Behrouz Mohammadi was sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) for murder. A man identified as Sasan Mirhadi was sentenced to death for moharebeh (enmity against god) through an armed robbery and the other three men who were on death row for rape have not been identified at the time of writing. Two of them were Afghan natioanls.
Two other men were hanged at the prison on 20 February. Their identities have been established as Mahmoud Barahouyi (photo), a Baluch man from Zahedan and Hossein Sasani. They were sentenced to death on drug-related charges.
Of the eight, only the executions of Sasan Mirhadi and the three unidentified men on death row for rape were 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.
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.