Execution of 7 Prisoners in Birjand; Amiri-Moghadam: 'Execution Republic' Has Returned to 'Factory Settings'

Following the transfer of 10 prisoners to the quarantine section for execution in Birjand prison on Sunday, a human rights organization announced that at least seven of these citizens were executed by the judicial authorities of the Islamic Republic in the early hours of Tuesday, August 2. According to the 'Halosh' website, the seven prisoners, three of whom were women, had been sentenced to death in separate cases related to drug offenses, and these sentences were carried out on Tuesday, August 2, in Birjand prison. Previously, human rights sources had warned about the possibility of executing 10 prisoners who had been transferred to quarantine. According to the report by HRANA, the media organ of the Human Rights Activists in Iran, the identities of two of these prisoners have been revealed as 'Amir Hamzeh Barahoui, a father of two from Zabol' and 'Vahid Vahdani, 33 years old, residing in Bojnourd.' Official and governmental sources in Iran have not yet released any news regarding the execution of these citizens. The Iran Human Rights Organization reported that 'at least 10 prisoners' related to 'drug offenses' and 'murder' have been transferred to solitary confinement in Birjand, Urmia, and Sanandaj prisons for 'execution of sentences.' Mahmoud Amiri-Moghadam, the director of this organization, referred to the execution of 10 citizens in recent days and the possibility of executing 12 more, stating on the social media platform X on Tuesday that 'the election show is over' and that the 'Execution Republic' has now intensified executions and 'returned to factory settings.' The increase in executions by the judicial authorities of the Islamic Republic comes as several prisoners in 16 prisons in Iran went on hunger strike on Tuesday, the 26th week of the 'Black Tuesdays' campaign, in protest against the issuance and execution of death sentences. Members of this human rights campaign have announced that they are going on hunger strike on Tuesdays to draw international attention to the issue of executions in Iran. The 'Black Tuesdays' campaign had previously warned about Ali Khamenei's statements regarding the necessity of not referencing Western human rights principles, considering these remarks by the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic as a precursor and a 'serious alarm' regarding the expansion of human rights violations by the Islamic Republic.