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

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