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Japan | Hakamada found religion, but then felt under attack by ‘the devil’

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Editor's note: This is the last in a four-part series on letters that Iwao Hakamada wrote while on death row. About a decade after cursing God, Iwao Hakamada was baptized Catholic at the Tokyo Detention House on Dec. 24, 1984. “Since I have been given the Christian name Paul, I am keenly feeling that I should be aware of the greatness of Paul.” (June 1985)

Iran | Executions in Urmia, Semnan

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Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); May 9, 2024: Hassan Choopani, Abdollah Hassanzadeh Yangajeh and Hassan Arabi Anabi were executed for drug-related charges in Urmia Central Prison.

According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, three Kurdish men were executed in Urmia Central Prison on 9 May. Their identities have been established as 35-year-old Hassan Choopani, Abdollah Hassanzadeh Yangajeh and Hassan Arabi Anabi. They were sentenced to death for drug-related charges by the Revolutionary Court.

Hassan was on death row for four years, Abdollah for five years and Hassan Arabi for six years.

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 since 2021. According to IHRNGO’s 2023 Annual Report on the Death Penalty, at least 471 people were executed for drug-related charges, an 84% increase compared to 2022 (256) and about 18 times the average of drug-related executions in 2018-2020.

On 10 April 2024, 80+ Iranian and international organisations and groups called for joint action to stop drug-related executions, urging UNODC to make “any cooperation with the Islamic Republic contingent on a complete halt on drug-related executions.”

Executions in Semnan


Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); May 9, 2024: An Afghan national named Khan Mohammad Eshaghzehi was secretly executed for drug-related charges in Semnan Central Prison.

According to Haalvsh, an Afghan man was executed in Semnan Central Prison on 8 May. His identity has been reported as 40-year-old Khan Mohammad Eshaghzehi from Afghanistan.

He was arrested for drug-related offences in Semnan around four years ago and sentenced to death by the city’s Revolutionary Court. He was executed without his family being notified and the right to say goodbye to them.

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

Drug-related executions have continuously risen every year since 2021. According to IHRNGO’s 2023 Annual Report on the Death Penalty, at least 471 people were executed for drug-related charges, an 84% increase compared to 2022 (256) and about 18 times the average of drug-related executions in 2018-2020.

On 10 April 2024, 80+ Iranian and international organisations and groups called for joint action to stop drug-related executions, urging UNODC to make “any cooperation with the Islamic Republic contingent on a complete halt on drug-related executions.”

It is important to note that Afghan nationals constitute the largest group of non-Iranian executions and death row cases in Iranian prisons. The number of their executions have been steadily rising since the Taliban takeover in 2021. At least five Afghan nationals were executed in 2021 which more than tripled in 2022, with 16 Afghan nationals including a juvenile offender and a woman executed. In 2023, at least 25 Afghans were executed, a 56% rise compared to the previous year. Khan Mohammad Eshaghzehi is the 12th Afghan national executed in 2024.

Source: Iran Human Rights, Staff, May 9, 2024

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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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