Iran | Secret Group Hanging of at Least 6 Men in Birjand

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); December 10, 2025: At least six men, including four Baluch minorities, were secretly executed in a group hanging in Birjand Central Prison. Ramezan Deldadeh, Behzad Mazarzehi, Ali Barahouyi, Mirzakhan Basati and two unidentified Baluch men were on death row for drug-related offences.

According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, at least six men were hanged in Birjand Central Prison on 9 December 2025. They were all sentenced to death on drug-related charges by the Revolutionary Court. Two of the men who were Baluch minorities have not been identified at the time of writing.

Two of the other men who were also Baluch minorities residing in Mashhad, have been identified as Behzad Mazarzehi, a 30-year-old father of two and Ali Barahouyi, a 36-year-old father of five. They were arrested in Birjand around six years ago and convicted in the same case.

The other two men have been identified as 42-year-old Ramezan Deldadeh from Taybad and Mirzakhan Basati. An informed source told IHRNGO: “Ramezan was arrested at a the Sahlabad checkpoint in Nehbandan around eleven years ago. He was previously transferred to solitary confinement in preparation for execution in April but a stay of execution was enforced the next day. Ramezan’s brother, Halim Deldadeh was also executed in Mashhad Central Prison in 2009.”

None of the executed men’s families were notified of their scheduled hangings, depriving them of the right to last family visits. And at the time of writing, none of their executions have been reported by domestic media or officials in Iran.

Drug-related executions have continuously risen every year since 2021. According to IHRNGO’s 2024 Annual Report on the Death Penalty, at least 503 people were executed for drug-related charges, of which only under 3% were announced by official sources. 17% of all drug-related executions in 2024 were Baluch minorities while they represent 2-6% of Iran’s population. At least 697 people were executed for drug-related offences in the first eleven months of 2025.

Source: Iran Human Rights, Staff, December 10, 2025

"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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