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U.S. | I'm a Death Row Pastor. They're Just Ordinary Folks

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In the early 1970s I was a North Carolinian, white boy from the South attending Union Theological Seminary in New York City, and working in East Harlem as part of a program. In my senior year, I visited men at the Bronx House of Detention. I had never been in a prison or jail, but people in East Harlem were dealing with these places and the police all the time. This experience truly turned my life around.

Iran | Executions in Qazvin, Kerman

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); June 8, 2023: Houshang Amirzadeh was executed for drug-related charges in Qazvin Central Prison. Mokhtar Sadeghi was returned to the general ward after obtaining an extension in his case.

According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, a man was executed in Qazvin Central Prison on 8 June. His identity has been established as Houshang Amirzadeh who was sentenced to death for drug-related charges by the Revolutionary Court.

An informed source previously told Iran Human Rights that Houshang was arrested for drug-related charges around three years ago.

At the time of writing, his execution has not been reported by domestic media or officials in Iran.

Mokhtar Sadeghi, a man sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) for murder who was transferred for execution with Houshang, has been returned to the general ward after obtaining an extension in his case.

According to the 2022 Annual Report on the Death Penalty, at least 256 people were executed for drug-related offences in 2022, a more than two-fold increase compared to 2021 (126) and ten times more than 2020 (25).

Two men executed in Kerman


Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); June 7, 2023: Kambiz Barzekar and Malek Baluch Mahani, two Baluch men sentenced to death for drug-related charges in the same case, were executed in Kerman Central Prison.

According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, two Baluch men were executed in Kerman Central Prison on 6 June. Their identities have been established as 28-year-old Kambiz Barzekar (photo) and 40-year-old Malek Baluch Mahani. They were sentenced to death for drug-related charges by the Revolutionary Court in the same case.

An informed source told Iran Human Rights: “They were arrested three years ago and had been on death row since. Kambiz was innocent and had been arrested a week after the drugs were seized. The drugs had nothing to do with him.”

Hal Vash which first reported news of their executions wrote: “Kambiz Barzekar’s father was killed by bullets fired directly at him by military forces seven years ago.”

At the time of writing, their executions have not been reported by domestic media or officials in Iran.

Ethnic minorities, the Baluch in particular, are grossly overrepresented in execution numbers in Iran. In 2022, at least 174 Baluch minorities including 3 women, were executed in 22 prisons across Iran, making up 30% of overall executions. This is while they represent just 2-6% of Iran’s population.

Baluch minorities also represented almost half of drug-related executions in 2022. 47.3% of the 256 people executed for drug-related charges were Baluch.

According to the 2022 Annual Report on the Death Penalty, at least 256 people were executed for drug-related offences in 2022, a more than two-fold increase compared to 2021 (126) and ten times more than 2020 (25).

On 1 June, Iran Human Rights reported at least 307 executions in 2023. May was also reported as the most bloody month in ten years, with at least 142 executions.

Source: Iran Human Rights, Staff, June 7-8, 2023


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"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted."


— Oscar Wilde

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