Iran | Executions in Kashan, Bandarabbas, Urmia, Gorgan, Hamedan, Sanandaj

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); December 29, 2023: Reza Eyvazi, a man sentenced to death for drug-related charges, was executed in Kashan Prison.

According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, a man was executed in Kashan Prison on 28 December. His identity has been established as 30-year-old Reza Eyvazi from Najaf Abad.

He was arrested two years ago and sentenced to death for drug-related charges by the Revolutionary Court.

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

On 21 December, IHRNGO warned of more drug executions being carried out after an Iranian MP from Lorestan province stated that the cases of 1000-2000 drug death row inmates were at implementation stage.

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.

Execution in Bandarabbas

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); December 29, 2023: Karim Aminikhah, a man sentenced to death for drug-related charges, was executed in Bandarabbas Central Prison.

According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, a man was executed in Bandarabbas Central Prison on 28 December. His identity has been established as 65-year-old Karim Aminikhah from Boukan.

He was arrested five years ago and sentenced to death for drug-related charges by the Revolutionary Court. According to his relatives, the drugs found in his car had been stashed there by someone else and did not belong to him.

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

3 Men and 1 Woman Executed for Espionage Charges in Urmia

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); December 29, 2023: Vafa Hanareh, Aram Omari Bardiani, Rahman Parhazu and Nasim Namazi were executed for charges of “moharebeh (enmity against god) and efsad-fil-arz (corruption on earth) through collaborating with the Zionist regime to disrupt national security” in Urmia Central Prison.

Iran Human Rights Director, Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam said: “Today’s executions are the Islamic Republic’s hard revenge on the Iranian people. The death sentences of these four individuals, like those of most prisoners with security charges, were issued by revolutionary courts based on confessions obtained under torture and without fair trials, and they have no legal validity.

According to the Judiciary’s Mizan news agency, three men and a woman were executed in Urmia Central Prison on 29 December. Their identities have been reported as Vafa Hanareh, Aram Omari Bardiani, Rahman Parhazu and Nasim Namazi. They were sentenced to death for charges of “moharebeh (enmity against god) and efsad-fil-arz (corruption on earth) through collaborating with the Zionist regime to disrupt national security.”

Mizan reported their executions to have taken place on 29 December. However, according to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, Vafa, Aram, Rahman and Nasim were executed the previous night (28 December).

A fifth prisoner named Mansour Rasouli who was transferred to pre-execution solitary confinement with the other four was returned to his cell after his hanging was delayed for unknown reasons.

An informed source told Iran Human Rights: “Mansour Rasouli has been behind bars since April 2022. Vafa, Aram, Rahman and Nasim were arrested 18 months ago and sentenced to death.”

According to Mizan, of the ten defendants in the case, four received death penalties and the other six were sentenced to 10 years imprisonment.

The hasty execution of the four prisoners shortly after the killing of an IRGC commander in Syria, increases suspicions of their retaliatory nature.

Man executed in Gorgan

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); December 29, 2023: Hassan Rahbar, a man sentenced to death for drug-related charges, was executed in Gorgan Central Prison.

According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, a man was executed in Gorgan Central Prison on 28 December. His identity has been established as 36-year-old Hassan Rahbar.

He was arrested two years ago and sentenced to death for drug-related charges by the Revolutionary Court.

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

Execution in Hamedan

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); December 29, 2023: Ramin Faghiri, a man sentenced to death for drug-related charges, was executed in Hamedan Central Prison.

According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, a man was executed in Hamedan Central Prison on 27 December. His identity has been established as 27-year-old Ramin Faghiri from the village of Vandarabad Kongavar.

He was arrested three years ago and sentenced to death for drug-related charges by the Revolutionary Court.

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

Execution in Sanandaj

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); December 28, 2023: Mohammadreza Mehraban was executed for murder charges in Sanandaj Central Prison.

According to Kurdpa, a man was executed in Sanandaj Central Prison on 26 December. His identity has been established as 35-year-old Mohammadreza Mehraban from Ghorveh

He was sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) for murder by the Criminal Court.

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, as the plaintiffs, the victim’s family are required to choose between death as retribution, diya (blood money) or forgiveness.

Source: iranhr.net, Staff, December 28-29, 2023

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

Death Penalty NewsFor a World without the Death Penalty

Oklahoma executes James Pavatt

Pavatt claimed innocence in the slaying of an Oklahoma City advertising executive for insurance money. His co-defendant and former lover Brenda Andrew is also on death row. James Pavatt made no final statement before being executed Thursday for killing his lover’s estranged husband nearly 25 years ago. Pavatt merely shook his head when asked by Oklahoma Department of Corrections Chief of Operations Jason Sparks if he had any last words. Pavatt appeared to share a quick word with Michael Scott, his spiritual advisor, after microphones inside the death chamber had been cut off.

Oklahoma Death Row inmate James Pavatt scheduled to be executed Thursday

James Pavatt is scheduled to be executed on Thursday for the 2001 killing of an Oklahoma City man. OKLAHOMA CITY—Oklahoma Death Row inmate James Pavatt is set to be executed for the 2001 murder of advertising executive Rob Andrew. His execution is scheduled for Nov. 12, 2026. In 2004, Pavatt and his lover/co-conspirator, Brenda Andrew, were sentenced to death for planning the killing of her estranged husband in an attempt to claim his $800,000 life insurance policy. Brenda is the only woman on Oklahoma’s death row.

Judge allows Tennessee death row inmates to include botched executions in lawsuit

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — Two failed executions in Tennessee are now at the center of a growing legal battle over the state’s lethal injection protocol after a judge ruled in favor of death row inmates Friday. A Davidson County judge ruled death row inmates can expand their lawsuit to include new allegations stemming from the botched executions of Tony Carruthers and Christa Pike. The original lawsuit, filed in March 2025, argues Tennessee’s death penalty protocol violates the constitutional rights of death row inmates with complex medical conditions. More than one year later, the state then failed to execute two inmates: Tony Carruthers and Christa Pike.

Two men set to be executed in Texas and Oklahoma today

The U.S. was preparing to carry out two executions on Thursday, one in Oklahoma and one in Texas. In Texas, the condemned man is John Allen Rubio, 46, who is set to be put to death at the state prison in Huntsville. He was convicted of beheading three young children he was raising in a 2003 killing that rattled a community along the U.S.-Mexico border. The other man facing execution is James Pavatt, 73, who is set to die by lethal injection at Oklahoma's state penitentiary in McAlester.

Texas executes John Rubio

Texas man who killed 3 children is put to death, hours after an Oklahoma execution James Pavatt was put to death in Oklahoma for Rob Andrew’s killing. In Texas, John Allen Rubio was executed for the deaths of Julissa Quesada, John E. Rubio, and Mary Jane Rubio. A Texas man convicted of fatally stabbing and beheading 3 young children in a squalid, windowless apartment in 2003 was executed Thursday evening, hours after Oklahoma put another man to death.

Why Many Americans Think Christa Pike Should Undergo a Second Execution Attempt

On October 20, Reuters released the results of a survey showing that 33% of the American public want Tennessee to try again to put Christa Pike to death. Another 26% are undecided. That means 59% of the public would support or be open to such a possibility. I want to suggest a reason why. Second execution attempts are rare in this country and, as a result, the public knows little if anything about them. That may help explain why so many would give Tennessee another chance to kill Christa Pike.

Iran executes three more January protesters accused of spying for Israel, US

In a statement, the judiciary said that “the death sentences of Hassan Deoband, Hamid Kazemi, and Reza Zangana were carried out on charges of ‘participating in operational action for the infamous Zionist regime and the United States and hostile groups.’” ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – Iran on Sunday executed three more protesters over their involvement in the nationwide demonstrations in January, the judiciary announced, accusing them of spying for the United States and Israel and destroying infrastructure.

Alabama executes Michael Shannon Taylor

Alabama executes man convicted of 1991 double murder The state of Alabama carried out the execution of 54-year-old Michael Shannon Taylor Thursday night for the 1991 murders of an elderly Etowah County couple, 35 years and 1 day after the crime. Taylor, convicted in 1993 on 3 counts of capital murder, was sentenced to death unanimously by a jury for killing 83-year-old Ivan Ernest Moore and 79-year-old Lucille Moore inside their Gadsden home during a robbery. Taylor was 19 at the time.

Iran | 10 executed in Ahvaz, Isfahan, Karaj

Four prisoners, including an Afghan national, were executed at Ghezel Hesar Prison in Karaj on Wednesday, November 4, 2026. All four had been sentenced to death under Iran’s qisas (retributive justice) laws on murder charges. According to information obtained by the Hengaw Organization for Human Rights, one of the executed prisoners was identified as Gol Agha Eskandari, an Afghan national. Eskandari had been convicted of murder following a dispute between neighbors in the Khorasan Square area of Tehran in July 2024 and subsequently sentenced to death.

Florida executes Jesse Guardado

Man convicted of 2004 killing is put to death in Florida’s 19th execution this year, tying a record Florida carried out a record-tying 19th execution of the year in an unusual instance of 3 states administering the death penalty on the same day. Jesse Guardado was pronounced dead at 6:13 p.m. following a 3-drug injection at a state prison in Starke. He had pleaded guilty to fatally stabbing 75-year-old Jackie Malone inside her Walton County home in 2004 before stealing her jewelry box, $80, and other valuables to buy drugs. The woman had helped him get a job and housing.

Death Penalty News

Search This Blog