Skip to main content

Iran | At Least 14 Hanged in Shiraz Central Prison in Past Week; 19 Executed in Fortnight

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); September 28, 2024: At least 14 men including two Afghan nationals were executed for murder and drug-related charges in Shiraz Central Prison on 16, 18, 23 and 25 September. 

With previous reported executions, at least 19 men were hanged at the prison in the past fortnight. (IHRNGO has received reports of 36 executions but has be unable to independently verify 17 of them.)

Iran Human Rights is following the group executions at Shiraz Central Prison with concern and urges the international community to not remain silent in the face of such widespread use of the death penalty.

IHRNGO Director, Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam said: “The international community must not remain silent about the daily executions in Iran.” Referring to meetings between world leaders with the Islamic Republic on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, he said: “The Islamic Republic’s use of the death penalty should be at the top the agenda in any meetings that countries that adhere to human rights principles have with Islamic Republic officials.”

According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, five men including two Afghan nationals were executed in Shiraz (Adel Abad) Central Prison on 16 September. The identities of three of the men who were sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) for murder, have been established as Amir Naderzadeh, Sajad Fadayiand Abdollah Abdolsamad (Afghan national). The two other men were sentenced to death for drug-related offences and have been identified as Behzad Bagheri and an Afghan national only identified as Mobasher(surname unknown).

Furthermore, four men were executed at the prison on 18 September. One of the men’s identities has been established as Shahin Salami who was sentenced to qisas for murder. The other three men who were on death row for drug-related offences have been identified as Sepehr Nourani, Taher Arezoumand and Kamran Heidari.

On 23 September, three other men were executed at the prison. Hassan Nejati, Mohammadreza Nejati and Fardin Ahmadi were all on death row for murder.

On 23 September, two other men were executed at the prison. Rasoul Shanbedi was executed for drug-related offences and Ayoub (Akbar) Sadikhani for murder charges.

An informed source told IHRNGO: “Akbar Sadikhani was accused of killing two people in a street fight. Rasoul Shanbedi was arrested for drug charges three years ago. He was transferred to Adel Abad prison from Pirbanu Prison. Hassan and Mohammadreza Nejati were relatives and co-defendants in the same case. They were arrested around three years ago.”

“Fardin Ahmadi was taken to the gallows from Ward 4 and had been arrested for a murder during a street fight four years ago. He had committed another murder behind bars.”

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

IHRNGO previously reported the execution of five men including child offender Mehdi Jahanpour, on 15 and 16 September at the prison which brings the total number of recorded executions in Shiraz Central Prison to 19 in the last fortnight. 

IHRNGO has received reports of 36 people being hanged in that time but has been unable to independently verify 17 of the executions at the time of writing and is continuing its investigation in this regard.

Source: Iran Human Rights, Staff, September 28, 2024

_____________________________________________________________________








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

— Oscar Wilde



Most viewed (Last 7 days)

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.

Florida executes Harold Gene Lucas

Florida state officials executed 74-year-old Harold Gene Lucas by lethal injection on Tuesday evening, concluding a 50-year legal saga stemming from the 1976 murder of a 16-year-old girl in Bonita Springs. STARKE, Fla. -- A man convicted of killing a teenage girl who rejected his romantic advances and wounding two of her friends was put to death Tuesday in the first of three executions planned this month in Florida. Harold Gene Lucas, 74, was pronounced dead at 6:18 p.m. following a three-drug injection at Florida State Prison near Starke, authorities said. He was sentenced to death for the 1976 shooting attack on Jill Piper and the wounding of her friends, Richard Byrd Jr. and Terri Rice.

Ex-corrections officials urge governor to commute Kansas death sentences

Former Kansas corrections officials are urging Governor Laura Kelly to grant clemency to the state's death row inmates. Former Kansas Corrections Secretary Roger Werholtz has several reasons why he thinks the state should abolish the death penalty. Werholtz, who served as secretary from 2002 to 2010 and returned on an interim basis in 2019, uses his discussions with peers and family members of victims as well as experiences of seeing wrongly convicted people getting exonerated as his guiding points.

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.

Indiana high court sets Nov. 5 execution date for convicted child killer

The court’s decision came a little more than two months after Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita asked the justices to schedule Weisheit’s execution. State attorneys argued Weisheit had exhausted his state and federal appeals, had no active stay of execution, and could lawfully be put to death. The inmate’s attorneys opposed setting a date, saying they needed more time to pursue available legal proceedings and possible executive clemency. The defense additionally pointed to public records that it said showed the Indiana Department of Correction lacked the drugs needed to conduct an execution and had no lawful source from which to obtain them.

Oklahoma Sets November Execution Date for Air Force Veteran Jim Pavatt Amid Claims of Wrongful Conviction

OKLAHOMA CITY — The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals has scheduled the execution of Air Force veteran and longtime death row prisoner Jim Pavatt for Nov. 12, as his attorneys continue to challenge his conviction and contend that prosecutors relied on false arguments, disputed forensic evidence and an alleged confession they later described as bogus. Pavatt, who served nearly 22 years in the Air Force and rose to the rank of master sergeant, was convicted and sentenced to death for the 2001 killing of Rob Andrew in Oklahoma City. His execution is scheduled for the day after Veterans Day.

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.

Iran Crackdown on Christians Intensifies, Ministry Reports Dozens Killed and Hundreds Detained

September 3, 2026: A widening crackdown on Christians in Iran has reportedly resulted in the deaths of at least 33 Christian ministers and the detention of more than 130 others in recent months, according to Iran Alive Ministries, a Texas-based organisation supporting underground house churches in the country. Hormoz Shariat, founder of Iran Alive Ministries, told Baptist Press that at least 33 Christian ministers associated with the ministry had been killed amid intensified government pressure on Christians linked to the underground church movement.

Hanging of Osaka Arsonist is Japan’s First Execution Under Takaichi Government

As a majority of the international community has abolished capital punishment. Japan and the U.S. are the only two countries in the Group of Seven leading industrialized nations that put people to death. The execution of Takami Sunao—an arsonist whose 2009 attack in Osaka killed five—on August 21, 2026, was Japan’s first use of capital punishment in just over a year. Over a Decade from Sentencing to Execution Takami Sunao was executed on August 21, 2026 , for a 2009 arson attack at an Osaka pachinko parlor that killed five people. In July 2009, Takami poured gasoline on the floor of a pachinko parlor in Osaka and set it alight, killing 5 customers and staff members and injuring 10 more. While the defense argued that he was in a state of diminished capacity, the Supreme Court finalized his death sentence in February 2016. The execution took place 17 years after the initial crime and 10 and a half years after the death sentence was finalized.

Florida | Jury recommends death sentence for Jeffrey Crum in killing of 12-year-old girl

BROOKSVILLE, Fla. — A Hernando County jury has recommended the death penalty for a 65-year-old man who was found guilty last week of raping and killing 12-year-old Jennifer Odom. Sentencing for Jeffrey Crum was held this week. Crum abducted Odom in 1993 after she stepped off her school bus in Pasco County. Her body was found in a Hernando County orange grove six days later.