Iran | Executions in Zanjan, Tabriz, Qazvin, Ardabil

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); May 4, 2024: Sohrab Rafieian and Morteza Azimi, two co-defendants on death row for drug-related charges, was executed in Zanjan Central Prison.

According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, two men were executed in Zanjan Central Prison on 28 April. Their identities have been established as 35-year-old Sohrab Rafieian and 40-year-old Morteza Azimi who were sentenced to death for drug-related charges by the Revolutionary Court in the same case.

An informed source told Iran Human Rights: “Sohrab Rafieian and Morteza Azimi were both from Zanjan and had been arrested for carrying 60kg of heroin and opium around three years ago. Morteza had a son with physical disabilities.”

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.”

Four executed in Tabriz

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); May 3, 2024: Mohammad Rasoul Khoshkar, Saeed Ranjdoust, Saber Aminabadi and Mehdi Habibi were executed for murder and drug charges in Tabriz Central Prison.

According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, four men were executed in Tabriz Central Prison 2nd May. Three of the men were sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) for murder. Their identities have been established Mohammad Rasoul Khoshkar and Saeed Ranjdoust, both 53, and Saber Aminabadi.

The fourth executed man was on death row for drug-related charges. His identity has been established as 40-year-old Mehdi Habibi.

An informed source told Iran Human Rights: “Mohammad Rasoul Khoshkar was arrested for the rape and murder of a 15-year-old girl and received the death penalty for both charges. But as the victim’s family were present at the execution, it appears that the qisas sentence was carried out.”

“Saeed Ranjdoust was arrested for murder around five years ago and sentenced to qisas. He was carpet weaver from Tabriz with three young children and also took care of two orphans. Saber Aminabadi was arrested for an honour killing three years ago. Mehdi Habibi was arrested for drug charges three years ago.

At the time of writing, none of their executions have been reported by domestic media or officials in Iran.

Man executed in Qazvin

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); May 3, 2024: Nasir Hariri, a man sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) for murder, was executed Qazvin Central Prison.

According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, a man was executed in Qazvin Central Prison (Choobindar) on 1st May. His identity has been established as 38-year-old Nasir Hariri who was sentenced to qisas for murder.

An informed source told IHRNGO: “Nasir Hariri was arrested for allegedly killing a baker with a scale stone three years ago and sentenced to qisas.”

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

In 2023, at least 282 people including two juvenile offenders and 15 women, were executed for murder charges, the second highest number of qisas executions since 2010. Only 20% of the recorded qisas executions were announced by official sources. In 2023, Iran Human Rights also recorded 857 cases of families choosing diya or forgiveness instead of qisas executions.

At least 63 people have been executed in Iranian prisons in the second fortnight of April and at least 171 people including six women were executed between January-April 2024.

Execution in Ardabil

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); May 3, 2024: Yaghoub Amiri, a man on death row for drug-related charges, was executed in Ardabil Central Prison.

According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, a man was executed in Ardabil Central Prison on 2nd May. His identity has been established as 35-year-old Yaghoub Amiri who was sentenced to death for drug-related charges by the Revolutionary Court.

An informed source told Iran Human Rights: “Yaghoub Amir was arrested on the Sarcham to Ardabil road with 40kg of methamphetamines (shisheh) around four years ago.”

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

Source: Iran Human Rights, Staff, May 3-4, 2024

_____________________________________________________________________

Twitter/X | Facebook | Telegram | Contact Us

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

— Oscar Wilde

Tennessee | Christa Pike’s lawyer says she has not regained consciousness since her failed execution

Christa Pike has remained unconscious and on a ventilator at a hospital in the four days since her failed execution in Tennessee, and her prognosis might not be known for days more, one of her lawyers said Sunday. Little has been released about Pike’s condition since Wednesday night’s execution attempt. She has since remained hospitalized under guard as doctors try to get the massive dose of the barbiturate pentobarbital out of her system. When asked whether she ever regained consciousness after the execution attempt, Assistant Federal Defender Stephen Ferrell, Pike’s lawyer, said on CNN’s “State of the Union”: “Not that I am aware of.”

What Tennessee wants to do next to Christa Pike is beyond grim

Christa Pike, the woman who survived two execution attempts in Tennessee earlier this week, remains hospitalized in critical condition, where presumably medical staff is at work trying to keep her alive. If she wakes from the coma she had entered, Tennessee officials want to start anew to inject lethal drugs into her seemingly too-small veins to kill her and carry out the state death warrant. Pike also is being treated for “significant injuries to both arms” sustained when two lethal injections of pentobarbital failed to kill her. If she dies, there will be no need to try again. As we know by now, Tennessee tried to put Pike to death Wednesday night by lethal injection for a murder she committed when she was 18. She would have been the first woman executed in the state in 200 years.

Tennessee Woman Christa Pike Survives Lethal Injection, Ends Up in Hospital; Governor Halts Executions

Tennessee unable to carry out the execution by lethal injection of Christa Gail Pike Tennessee officials were unable to put Christa Gail Pike to death for a 1995 murder Wednesday, media witnesses said, after the lethal injection was halted for hours as courts considered a last-minute appeal of what would have been the state's 1st execution of a woman in at least 200 years. Pike, 50, had been scheduled for execution for a killing she committed at age 18 after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned an appeals court ruling that stopped the lethal injection just an hour before it was to start. Officials then attempted to go ahead with it as planned.

Florida executes Curtis Beasley

A 77-year-old man convicted of killing a woman with a hammer has become the 16th person executed this year in Florida A 77-year-old Florida man was put to death Tuesday for his conviction in a deadly hammer attack on a woman decades ago, becoming the 16th person executed to date this year in the nation’s busiest death chamber. Curtis Wilkie Beasley was pronounced dead at 6:12 p.m. following a lethal injection at Florida State Prison near Starke. He was convicted of 1st-degree murder, robbery, and grand theft auto in the 1995 hammer attack on Carolyn Monfort at her home south of Orlando.

Indiana plans to proceed with execution after botched Tennessee attempt

Indiana prison officials plan to proceed with Jeffrey Weisheit’s Nov. 5 execution after a botched lethal injection in Tennessee prompted that state’s governor to halt executions and order an independent review. The Indiana Department of Correction said Thursday that it remains confident in its procedures despite using the same protocol as Tennessee. Agency officials offered no additional details about the training of those administering lethal injections, the role of medical personnel, or safeguards for execution drugs.

Florida | He executed death row prisoners. Then they came back to haunt him

Dunnellon, Florida—Every night, one of the men Ron McAndrew killed would sit at the foot of his bed and stare, blankly, into his tortured soul. He knew they were coming. He’d shift over in his sheets to make room. “They never said anything,” McAndrew recalls, his aged voice straining from the weight of the memory. “They just sat there and looked at me.” But their eyes would talk. They would ask, "How could you do such a thing?’” says McAndrew. “You always claimed to be a good person. And now you’re killing people.”

Tennessee | Governor permits Christa Pike execution: 'I am upholding the sentence'

Gov. Bill Lee does not plan to stop Christa Pike's execution. Pike, 50, is scheduled to be killed by lethal injection 10 a.m. Sept. 30 at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville. “After deliberate consideration of Christa Gail Pike’s request for clemency, and after a thorough review of the case, I am upholding the sentence of the State of Tennessee and do not plan to intervene," Lee said in a statement released Sept. 28. Pike's attorneys lamented the news.

Singapore | Ministry of Home Affairs refutes claims that death penalty was discussed during visit by Israel's security ministry

The Ministry of Home Affairs says discussions with the Israeli government involved the sharing of best practices in emergency response, crime prevention, and forensics. Issues relating to the death penalty “were never part of the meeting and were not discussed." SINGAPORE: The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Friday (Sep 11) refuted claims by an Israeli media outlet that the death penalty was discussed during a visit by an Israeli delegation in May. The Haaretz newspaper reported on Sep 7 that a delegation comprising representatives from the Israel Prison Service and National Security Ministry made a “secret visit” to Singapore that month.

Philippines | President Marcos Grants Absolute Pardon to Mary Jane Veloso

President Marcos Confirms Decision to Grant Absolute Pardon to Mary Jane Veloso President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. has signed an absolute pardon for Mary Jane Veloso after more than a decade. On Friday (September 25, 2026), the President confirmed the decision during a visit to Guiuan, Eastern Samar. According to him, the pardon was officially signed the previous day, marking a major development in the case.

Tennessee Supreme Court denies stay for death row inmate Christa Pike

(TNND) — As Tennessee prepares for a Sept. 30 execution, the Tennessee Supreme Court has denied death row inmate Christa Gail Pike’s request to stop it. The court rejected Pike’s challenge to the state’s lethal-injection protocol, finding that her thrombocytosis diagnosis, a condition involving elevated blood platelets, did not show the execution would violate the Eighth Amendment ban on cruel and unusual punishment.

Death Penalty News

Search This Blog