Execution of 6 Prisoners in Qazalhasar Prison of Karaj in 8 Days

The Iran Human Rights Organization reported on Friday, November 2, that the sentences of at least 5 prisoners, including an Afghan national, who were sentenced to death or qisas (retribution in kind) for separate charges related to "drugs," "moharebeh" (waging war against God), or "premeditated murder," were carried out on Wednesday, November 1, in Qazalhasar Prison of Karaj. According to the organization's website, new information indicates that on November 1, the death sentence of another prisoner, who had been sentenced to qisas for "premeditated murder" and suffered from mental disorders, was also executed in this prison. Thus, the number of executions in recent days in this prison has increased to 6. The Iran Human Rights Organization reported that the identities of two of the 5 prisoners executed on November 1, who were sentenced to death for separate drug-related charges, have been confirmed as Mostafa Gholamzadeh and Abdollah Tajik, both Afghan nationals. Additionally, the identities of two other prisoners sentenced to death for "moharebeh through armed robbery" have been confirmed as Mohammad Jalali and Saman Anbari. Meanwhile, the identity of the fifth executed prisoner, sentenced for "premeditated murder," has not been confirmed at the time of this report. The organization noted that the execution of these 5 prisoners had not been announced by Iranian media or official sources at the time of reporting. Furthermore, on the morning of November 1, the death sentence of a man in Qazalhasar Prison was carried out. This prisoner, identified as Alireza Razavi Khaleghabadi, 26 years old, was sentenced to death for "moharebeh" and for the premeditated murder of 4 individuals, receiving four qisas sentences. An informed source regarding the execution of this prisoner told the Iran Human Rights Organization: "Alireza Razavi Khaleghabadi was from Yazd. He had an orchard in Shahriar that the government had confiscated and had placed 4 guards for him. No matter what Alireza did, he could not get his orchard back, and in an act of anger, he attacked the four guards placed by the government and killed all four." The Iran Human Rights Organization pointed out that it is unclear whether this prisoner was executed for the charge of "moharebeh" or for "premeditated murder." According to this report, the Rokna website published news of Alireza Razavi Khaleghabadi's execution without mentioning his full name. In Rokna's report, citing the prisoner's lawyer, it was stated that "his client is not mentally healthy and has a history of hospitalization in a psychiatric hospital." The organization wrote that executions of prisoners sentenced for drug-related charges have steadily increased over the past 4 years, and in 2023, compared to 2022, when 256 people were executed for drug-related charges, there was an 84% increase, with 471 executions recorded for this charge. Previously, Amnesty International reported in its annual report published in June of this year that the Islamic Republic of Iran was one of the 5 countries with the highest number of executions in 2023. This human rights organization noted that the Iranian government alone carried out 74% of the identified executions.