Iran | Executions in Karaj, Ahvaz

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); November 29, 2023: Eghbal Fathollahi and Mohsen Amrayi were executed for drug-related charges in Ghezelhesar Prison, Karaj. Two other men were returned to the general population after obtaining last minute extensions in their case.

According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, at least two men were executed in Ghezelhesar Prison on 28 November. Their identities have been established as Eghbal Fathollahi and Mohsen Amrayi who were sentenced to death for drug-related charges by the Revolutionary Court.

The two prisoners were transferred to solitary confinement in a group of five on 27 November. The other three men who are on death row for murder, were returned to their cells after obtaining extensions from the plaintiffs in the case.

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 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.

Kurdish Political Prisoner Ayoub Karimi Executed in Group Hanging

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); November 29, 2023: After spending 14 years on death row, Kurdish-Sunni political prisoner, Ayoub Karimi was executed with six other men in a group hanging in Ghezelhesar Prison this morning.

Iran Human Rights urges the international community to do everything in their power to stop the execution machine in Iran.

Director, Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam said: “The execution of Ayoub Karimi, based on coerced confessions and without a fair trial, like the execution of other political prisoners, is a crime. The authorities of the Islamic Republic must be held accountable for this crime. The Islamic Republic, in the absence of international community's attention, have turned to the execution of political prisoners. The international community, especially governments adhering to human rights principles that have diplomatic relations with the Islamic Republic, should break their silence in the face of the wave of executions and show an appropriate reaction.”

According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, Kurdish Sunni political prisoner Ayoub Karimi was executed in Ghezelhesar Prison with six other men on 29 November. The other men’s executions will be reported separately.

Ayoub Karimi who was a Kurdish and Sunni minority, was arrested along with Ghasem Abasteh, Anwar Khezri, Davoud Abdollahi, Farhad Salimi, Khosro Besharat and Kamran Sheikheh in January 2010.

They were interrogated in Urmia before being transferred to Evin Prison in Tehran. They were subsequently transferred to Gohardasht (Rajai Shahr) Prison in Karaj where they were held until its closure in August when they were transferred to Ghezelhesar Prison. An informed source previously told IHRNGO that the seven political prisoners were physically and psychologically tortured to extract forced confessions.

They were sentenced to death for charges of moharebeh (enmity against god) and efsad-fil-arz (corruption on earth) through “armed action and membership in a Salafi jihadi group” in a case with seven defendants by Branch 28 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court in February/March 2016. One of their charges related to the death of a Sunni cleric named Mamousta Abdolrahim Tina.

Ghasem Abasteh was executed in Ghezelhesar Prison on 5 November.

Man Executed for Moharebeh in Ahvaz

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); November 28, 2023: State media have reported the execution of Hani Shahbazi, a man sentenced to death for murder and moharebeh charges in Ahvaz Sepidar Prison.

According to Tasnim, a man was executed in Ahvaz Sepidar Prison. The unnamed man whose exact date of execution has not been specified, was sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) for murder and moharebeh (enmity against god). He allegedly killed a policeman and IRGC officer in Shadegan on 3 December 2019.

A local human rights organisation named Karoun reported his identity as 32-year-old Hani Shahbazi from Shadegan.

Due to the vague definition, the charges of efsad-fil-arz (corruption on earth) are used for a wide range of offences. Article 286 of the Islamic Penal Code lists “establishing and running centres of corruption and prostitution” as one of the charges leading to the death penalty for efsad-fil-arz. Additionally, as it is within the Revolutionary Courts’ jurisdiction, there is considerable subjectivity in the judgements made in the cases.

Source: Iran Human Rights, Staff, November 28-29, 2023

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