Execution of 13 Individuals Including Several Women and an Afghan National by the Islamic Republic

Human rights sources reported the execution of 13 prisoners in various prisons across Iran by the judicial authorities of the Islamic Republic. The reports mentioned the execution of several women and an Afghan national. According to the report by the Human Rights Activists in Iran, early on Tuesday, November 21, two prisoners named Hamzeh Jahaniyan and Javad Dolabi were executed in connection with drug-related charges at the Central Prison of Karaj. These two prisoners had been transferred to solitary confinement for execution along with two others on November 17, but there is no information available about the other two prisoners. The Iran Human Rights Organization reported on Tuesday, November 21, that at least one Afghan national named Mohammad Nabi Papalzehi, 28 years old, was executed on Sunday morning, November 20, in the Central Prison of Zahedan for drug-related charges. The report also mentioned the execution of a woman for 'premeditated murder,' but further details about her remain unclear. The Iran Human Rights Organization and HRANA reported that early on Sunday, a woman and a man named Mahrokh Khani, 35, and Kazem Babaei, 45, were also executed in the Central Prison of Tabriz, with their charges related to drugs in separate cases. Additionally, according to these human rights sources, two prisoners named Iraj Shabdez, 40, from Gonbad Kavous, and Ali Ahmadzadeh, 47, from Gorgan, were executed by the judicial authorities of the Islamic Republic in connection with drug charges in separate cases. The executions of these two prisoners took place on Wednesday, November 16, at the Central Prison of Gorgan. According to another report from the Iran Human Rights Organization, the judicial authorities executed another citizen named Jafar Farahani, 36 years old and a father of a young child, early on Saturday, November 19, in Nishapur for the premeditated murder of his cousin. This human rights organization emphasized that under the laws of the Islamic Republic, the charge of premeditated murder is not graded, and 'any type of murder, regardless of severity and motive of the accused,' leads to a death sentence. According to another report from this organization, on Thursday, November 17, at least two men and one woman were executed in the Central Prison of Rasht by the judicial authorities of the Islamic Republic. The identities of two of these prisoners, Sadegh Khorshidi, 32, from Lahijan, and Mohammad Majid Jamali, were reported in connection with drug charges, but the name of the executed woman, whose charge was premeditated murder, remains unclear. Furthermore, according to a report from HRANA, the media organ of the Human Rights Activists in Iran, early on Sunday, November 20, the judicial authorities executed a prisoner named Saman Karimi in Yasuj, the center of Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad province. HRANA stated that 'this prisoner was a former member of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' and had been sentenced to death for murder. According to HRANA's report, on Sunday, November 20, a prisoner named Hamid Soltanabadi, 36 years old and from Aligudarz, was executed in Qazvin for drug-related charges. The Kurdpa news agency also reported the execution of a prisoner named Mojtaba Ghasemi from Harsin for murder charges on Wednesday, November 16, in Qazalhessar prison in Alborz province. HRANA had also reported on November 16 the execution of eight other prisoners in Qazalhessar. The Islamic Republic has continuously increased the execution of prisoners on drug-related charges over the past four years. According to human rights sources, the number of drug-related executions in Iran in 2023 reached 471, marking an 84% increase compared to the previous year. According to Amnesty International, the Islamic Republic alone carried out 74% of the identified executions in the world in 2023.