Iran | Executions in Bandar Abbas, Shiraz, Jiroft, Zahedan, Ramhormoz

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); November 20, 2023: Abdolghafour Mahmoudi, Mohammadhossein Tashtzar and Ali Payam were executed for drug-related charges in Bandar Abbas Central Prison.

According to Haal Vsh, three men including two Baluch minorities, were executed in Bandar Abbas Central Prison on 19 November. Their identities have been reported as Abdolghafour Mahmoudi and Mohammadhossein Tashtzar, two Baluch minorities from Kahnuj, and Ali Payam (Maleki) from Bandar Abbas.

The three men were co-defendants who were arrested for drug-related charges around four years ago and sentenced to death by the Bandar Abbas Revolutionary Court.

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 2-5% of Iran’s population. Furthermore, at least 274 Baluch people have been executed for drug-related charges since 2021, 40% of all drug executions in that time period.

Drug-related executions have continuously risen every year for the past three years. At least 305 people were executed for drug-related charges between 1 January-10 October 2023, a 69% increase compared to the same period in 2022, and the number of drug-related executions in 2023 were close to 20 times higher than 2020.

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.

Man executed in Shiraz

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); November 20, 2023: Yasin Zeinoldini, a Baluch man sentenced to death for drug-related charges, was executed in Shiraz Central Prison.

According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, a Baluch man was executed in Shiraz Central Prison (Adel Abad) on 19 November. His identity has been established as 30-year-old Yasin Zeinoldini from Sarbaz.

Yasin was arrested for drug-related charges six years ago and sentenced to death by the Revolutionary Court. According to IIHRNGO sources, his death sentence had been overturned by the Supreme Court but he was resentenced to death at retrial. He was transferred for execution on 18 November from Ward 4 of the prison.

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

Executions in Jiroft, Zahedan

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); November 17, 2023: Fahim Moghabeli and Mohsen Gomashadzehi, two Baluch men, were executed in Jiroft and Zahedan Central Prisons.

According to Haal Vsh, a Baluch man was executed in Jiroft Prison on 11 November. His identity has been reported as 24-year-old Fahim Moghabeli who was sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) for murder. He was arrested around two and a half years ago and had denied the charges.

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

Furthermore, state media have reported the execution of another Baluch man on 14 November. Identified as Mohsen Gomshadzehi, he was called a “hooligan” by a state official. Reported by Javan Online, Mohsen Gomashadzehi is alleged to have killed two policemen around ten years ago.

While the report does not specify the exact charges, “hooligan” is usually used for those sentenced to death for moharebeh (enmity against god) charges. According to Haal Vsh, his execution was carried out in Zahedan Central Prison.

Man executed in Ramhormoz

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); November 17, 2023: Abdolkhalegh Parvizi was executed for drug-related charges in Ramhormoz Prison.

According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, at least one man was executed in Ramhormoz Prison in Khuzestan province on 12 November. His identity has been established as Abdolkhalegh Parvizi who was sentenced to death for drug-related charges.

IHRNGO has received information about the execution of two other men for murder charges that day which it has not been able to verify at the time of writing.

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

Source: Iran Human Rights, Staff, November 17-20, 2023

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California | Becerra vows to extend moratorium despite past support for capital punishment

SACRAMENTO—Democrat Xavier Becerra defended the death penalty while serving as California’s attorney general, a punishment his office actively sought in the case of a gunman convicted of an Orange County mass shooting, but as the front-running candidate for governor, he has vowed to block executions if elected in November. Becerra said he will extend the blanket reprieve for all death row inmates that Gov. Gavin Newsom enacted by executive order in 2019, saying he supported “moving our state away from a costly, flawed system that disproportionately impacts Black and brown communities and too often gets it wrong.”

Iran | Afghan Citizen Executed in Wheelchair Due to Severe Mobility Disability

KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – Iranian authorities have reportedly executed an Afghan citizen, identified as Valijan Nourzay, at the central prison in Rafsanjan, according to the human rights organization Hengaw. Hengaw said in a statement on Sunday, September 6, that Nourzay was executed early Wednesday last week at Rafsanjan Central Prison. According to the organization, Nourzay had a severe mobility disability and was executed while in a wheelchair. Hengaw, citing informed sources, reported that Nourzay had been pursued by Iranian authorities three years ago over an alleged murder. He was reportedly seriously wounded after Iranian security forces opened fire on him in Rafsanjan before being arrested and later sentenced to death.

Egypt TV presenter and 11 others sentenced to death in major drugs case

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He Spent 27 Years on Death Row as a Wrongfully Convicted Man. What Comes Next?

23-hour solitary confinement. 115-degree heat. Jimmie Duncan is haunted by the decades he spent in Louisiana’s Angola Prison—and how, even after being released, he still isn’t truly free. Jimmie “Chris” Duncan wiped the sweat off his forehead as he assessed his temporary home from the parking lot of a rundown motel in central Louisiana. Sure, there’s drug dealing and prostitution, he said on a recent summer afternoon. And he suspected his neighbors were cooking meth on a floor below the room he paid $350 a week to rent.

California | He spent 19 years on death row. His conversion to Judaism helped him endure

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Ex-corrections officials urge governor to commute Kansas death sentences

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Florida executes Harold Gene Lucas

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Florida executes Daniel Owen Conahan Jr.

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Arizona AG seeks execution date for man convicted in 1995 trooper killing

Trooper Bob Martin was killed during a traffic stop on the Beeline highway; execution for his killer could be as soon as January PHOENIX (AZFamily)—The Arizona Attorney General is asking for an execution date to be set for a man convicted in the killing of an Arizona State Trooper over 30 years ago. On Aug. 15, 1995, Trooper Bob Martin was shot and killed while performing a traffic stop along the Beeline Highway.

Florida set to carry out 14th execution this year in the nation's busiest death chamber

MIAMI (AP) — A Florida man convicted of fatally shooting a 16-year-old girl who rejected his romantic advances and wounding two of her friends is set to be executed Tuesday in the first of three lethal injections scheduled this month in the state. Harold Gene Lucas, 74, is set to receive a three-drug injection at Florida State Prison near Starke starting at 6 p.m. He would be the 14th prisoner put to death this year in Florida, and Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis has already signed death warrants for two more executions set for later this September.

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