Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); July 12, 2023: Mousa Shehbakhsh, a Baluch man sentenced to death for drug-related charges, was executed in Zahedan Central Prison.
According to Hal Vash, a Baluch man was executed in Zahedan Central Prison on 11 July. His identity has been reported as 23-year-old Mousa Shehbakhsh who was sentenced to death for drug-related charges by the Revolutionary Court.
Mousa was a father of one from the village of Haji Abad in Zahedan. He was arrested around five years ago.
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. Furthermore, in the
first six months of 2023, 20% of the at least 354 executions were Baluch people.
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.
Drug-related executions have continuously risen every year for the past three years. 206 people were
executed for drug-related charges in the first six months of 2023, a 126% rise compared to the same period in 2022 when 91 were executed. 40 people were executed in the same period in 2021.
The number of drug executions dramatically dropped in 2018 following a 2017 Amendment to the Anti-Narcotics Laws. Consequently, drug executions ranged between 24-30 per annum between 2018-2020. The Amendment was reversed in practice in 2021 when executions increased ten-fold to 126 in 2021 and doubled again in
2022 with 256 drug-related executions.
Man Hanged in Maku
Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); July 12, 2023: Hamed Hosseinpour, a man sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) for murder, was executed in Maku Prison.
According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, a man was executed in Maku Prison in Western Azerbaijan province on 12 July. His identity has been established as 32-year-old Hamed Hosseinpour who was sentenced qisas for murder.
An informed source told Iran Human Rights: “Hamed Hosseinpour was accused of killing his friend with a knife during a verbal argument in Shoot park five years ago.”
At the time of writing, his execution has not been reported by domestic media or officials in Iran.
Those charged with the umbrella term of “intentional murder” are sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) regardless of intent or circumstances due to a lack of grading in law. Once a defendant has been convicted, the victim’s family are required to choose between death as retribution, diya (blood money) or forgiveness.
Source:
Iran Human Rights, Staff, July 12, 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