Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); October 5, 2023: State media have reported the execution of an unidentified man for murder in Mashhad Central Prison.
According to Etemad Online, a man was executed in Mashhad Central Prison (Vakil Abad) on 1 October. His identity has only been reported as 35-year-old Mohammad Taghi (surname unknown).
He was accused of murdering a man along with others on 7 June 2020 and sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) for murder.
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.
Five executions in Kerman
Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); October 4, 2023: At least five men including two Baluch minorities, were executed for drug-related charges in Kerman Central Prison.
According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, five men including two Baluch minorities were executed in Kerman Central Prison on 1 October. The Baluch men’s identities have been established as Avaz Moradi and Ramezan Khorshid who were both from Bam.
The other three men’s identities have not been established at the time of writing. All five men were sentenced to death for drug-related charges by the Revolutionary Court.
At the time of writing, none of their executions have 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. Furthermore, in the first six months of 2023, 20% of the at least 354 executions were Baluch people.
Drug-related executions have continuously risen every year for the past three years. At least 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. On 13 September 2023, IHRNGO reported a 94% rise in the number of drug-related executions in the year following the start of the “Woman, Life, Freedom” movement in September 2022.
Source:
Iran Human Rights, Staff, October 4-5, 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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