Iran | Executions in Shiraz, Birjand, Zabol, Zahedan

Iranian authorities have executed two Afghan nationals, Mirwais Khalilzadi and Ebrahim Ahmadshahi, in Shiraz Central Prison. Both men had previously been sentenced to death in separate cases on drug-related charges. With these two executions, at least 12 Afghan prisoners have been executed in Iran in less than six months since the beginning of 2026.

According to information obtained by the Hengaw Organization for Human Rights, the executions of Mirwais Khalilzadi, 55, and Ebrahim Ahmadshahi, 40, both fromAfghanistan, were carried out at dawn on Sunday, June 21, 2026, in Shiraz Central Prison (Adelabad).

Khalilzadi, who was from Jalalabad, was arrested two years ago, while Ahmadshahi, a resident of Khost Province, was arrested one year ago. Both were sentenced to death in separate cases on charges related to drug offenses.

The executions of the two Afghan prisoners have not been announced by Iranian state media or official sources affiliated with the judiciary.

According to data recorded by the Statistics and Documentation Center of the Hengaw Organization for Human Rights, at least 12 Afghan nationals have been executed in Iranian prisons since the beginning of 2026, a period of less than six months.

Executions in Birjand, Zabol, and Zahedan. Man serving life sentence nevertheless executed

Iranian authorities executed three Baloch prisoners, Ali Asghar Aminipour, Isa Rahmani, and Hossein Yousefzahi, in the prisons of Birjand, Zabol, and Zahedan. All three men had been arrested on drug-related charges. While Aminipour and Rahmani were sentenced to death, Yousefzahi had been serving a life sentence. He was nevertheless executed in Zabol Prison.

According to information received by Hengaw Organization for Human Rights, Isa Rahmani, a 36-year-old married man and father of two from Sarbaz, was executed in the early hours of June 21, 2026, in Zahedan Central Prison. He had been arrested two years earlier on drug-related charges and later sentenced to death.

On the same day, Hossein Yousefzahi, from the village of Tabasin-e Olya in Nahbandan County, was executed in Zabol Prison after spending 28 years behind bars, despite having been sentenced to life imprisonment rather than death.

Yousefzahi was arrested in 1998 and sentenced to life imprisonment by the Iranian judiciary. He later spent part of his sentence on furlough and under an open-prison arrangement. Around five years ago, following the opening of a new case involving the discovery of 50 grams of narcotics, he was again sentenced to life imprisonment.

Meanwhile, Ali Asghar Aminipour, a 48-year-old father of three from Sistan and Baluchestan Province who lived in Gorgan, Golestan Province, was executed in the early hours of June 14, 2026, in Birjand Central Prison.

Aminipour's execution was carried out without prior notice to his family and without a final visit with his relatives. He was executed alongside another Baloch prisoner, Mohammad Amin Narouei, a 57-year-old father of three from Zahedan. As previously reported by Hengaw, Narouei had been arrested in 2022 on drug-related charges and was later sentenced to death. Aminipour had been arrested on similar charges three years earlier and was also sentenced to death.

None of these executions have been announced by state media, particularly outlets affiliated with the judiciary, and all were carried out in complete silence.

Execution in Zabol

Iranian authorities executed Homayoun Nurzehi, an elderly Afghan national, in Zabol Central Prison in Sistan and Baluchestan Province. He had previously been sentenced to death on drug-related charges.

According to information received by Hengaw Organization for Human Rights, the execution was carried out in the early hours of Sunday, June 21, 2026. Nurzehi, who was approximately 70 years old, was executed in Zabol Central Prison.

Informed sources stated that Nurzehi was arrested around two years ago and was later sentenced to death on charges related to drug offenses. He had been held in Zabol Central Prison since his arrest.

Neither Iranian state media nor official sources of the Iranian Judiciary have announced the execution, which was carried out without any public disclosure.

Executions in Zahedan

The executions of two Baloch prisoners, Nematollah Brahoui and Shir Mohammad Shahouzehi, both sentenced to death on drug-related charges, were carried out at Zahedan Central Prison. Their executions bring the number of Baloch prisoners executed in Iran to at least 32 in 2026.

According to information received by Hengaw Organization for Human Rights, the execution of Nematollah Brahoui, a 31-year-old Baloch man from Zabol, was carried out in the early hours of Sunday, June 21, 2026, at Zahedan Central Prison.

Brahoui, who was married and the father of four children, had been arrested four years ago on drug-related charges and was later sentenced to death by the Iranian judiciary.

Meanwhile, the execution of Shir Mohammad Shahouzehi, a 48-year-old father of five from Zahedan, was carried out in the early hours of Saturday, June 13, 2026, at Zahedan Central Prison.

Sources familiar with the case stated that Shahouzehi was arrested in Zahedan three years ago and was later sentenced to death by the Iranian judiciary on drug-related charges.

Iranian state-affiliated media outlets and official sources linked to the judiciary have not announced or acknowledged the executions of either prisoner.

Data recorded by the Statistics and Documentation Center of Hengaw Organization for Human Rights shows that at least 32 Baloch prisoners have been executed in Iranian prisons in less than six months.

Source: Hengaw, Staff, June 21-22, 2026

"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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