Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); April 10, 2025: Esmail Dahmardeh and Abdollah Narouyi, two Baluch men on death row for drug-related offences, were executed in Gonabad Prison.
According to the Baloch Activists Campaign, two Baluch men were hanged in Gonabad Prison, Khorasan Razavi province, on 9 April 2025. Their identities have been reported as 68-year-old Esmail Dahmardeh from Zahedan and 48-year-old Abdollah Narouyi from the village of Reza Abad in Golestan province.
They were sentenced to death on drug-related charges by the Revolutionary Court.
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.
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.”